Maximus

[essexbuzzard]

A from me too! Never seen a spring brood Map. Hopefully one day. In the meantime, I’ll make do with your excellent pictures!

[trevor]

A for the Map Mike, one species I wish would channel hop !.
Expecting more exotica from you as the season progresses .!.

Trevor.

[David M]

Must be such a joy seeing these on your patch, Mike.

So near yet so far for we in Blighty. Perhaps one day....

[Wurzel]

Cracking Map shots Maximus - I've only seen the 'White Admiral' form and not the 'Look I'm a Fritillary honest' form IN Germany they call the Map a Landkarte which is a literal translation of map - are you picking up any of the French names for the butterflies?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Thanks, Pauline, i've seen those shots in the albums. It was great if unexpected to see the Large Tortoiseshells, especially the second one, which hung around for about ten minutes We will have to see what we can find this summer.

Thanks, Dave, you would think that a few would be blown across the channel, given favourable winds.

Thanks, Mark, i'm sure you'll catch up with a first brood Map one of these days.

Thanks, Trevor, i'm surprised they haven't crossed over yet! Hopefully some exotica will appear over the next few months.

It is great to have Maps just outside our front door, David, perhaps they will make the crossing one day soon

Thanks, Wurzel, i'm beginning to become au fait with french butterfly names. For example the Carte geographic (Map) and L'aurore (dawn) a lovely name for the Orange-tip


25th April

I was working in the garden, always plenty to do, when I spotted a butterfly, flying around some nettles under our choisia hedge.

[Pauline]

Tease!

[Maximus]

Its not good having to use a laptop without a mouse plus the French after work vino

Anyway to continue.............I always have my camera at the ready so stopped working and made my way across. I could see that it was a Map butterfly sussing out the nettles. I followed her as she flew around the garden, before she finally returned to the nettles. I saw her dip onto the underside of a nettle leaf and then knew what was to follow. I took some shots as she oviposited, although it wasn't easy as she was in a shady spot.

This was a different female to the one I saw previously.

Spot the Map butterfly.

Ready to oviposit.

First string.

Second string.

Third string.

The eggs.

Location.

We reared some Maps last summer, took plenty of shots, unfortunately my desktop died, so hope to post the photos by next winter

[Wurzel]

"L'aurore" - that is a beautiful name for the Orange-tip - sometimes I do feel like we could do our butterflies a better service when it comes to their common names Brilliant sequence of the ovi-posting female and a great shot of the string of eggs

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Absolutely love that sequence, Mike. What a joy to have that going on in your own garden.

[Chris L]

I find the Map butterfly extremely interesting to look at, having only first known of its existence a fortnight ago. I had not seen the ventral side until just now. I am thinking that the colour and the pattern reminds me of something but I can't quite get to what it is.

[Maximus]

Cheers, Wurzel, some of the French names are fitting while others are a bit baffling

Thanks, David, it's definitely a joy to be able to see this lovely species in your own garden, and they have been around a lot this year. I would imagine that the nettles contain many eggs.

Hi Otep, it's a lovely little butterfly. Not quite sure what the underside reminds you of, apart from the obvious




1st May 2022


Cathy found our 31st garden butterfly species today and called me over to see it.

Dingy Skipper.

A lovely Dingy Skipper

[Maximus]

Orange-tips are still going strong around here, even though their food plants are wilting due to the lack of rain. This male and female stood out from the crowd, for me.

Orange-tip male.

Orange-tip female.

On a non-butterfly front, I first spotted this chap on 17th April when he was carrying what looked like a fecal sac.

No further sightings until the evening of 4th May when I spotted him taking a bath outside our back door, much to the amusement of the resident house sparrows.

Male common redstart.

Think I'd have been very, very lucky, to see this in my UK garden

[Wurzel]

A Garden tick in the form of a Dingy And a garden list of 31 - over half of the UK species list I've just told my wife that we're retiring to France!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Cheers, Wurzel, you could do worse



6th May

Today when we were working in our garden a Swallowtail appeared, only the second one we have seen so far this year. Having a camera with me I followed her around to try to get some shots. She was particularly interested in the fennel, of which there is plenty growing in various parts of the garden. She visited four different plants and I could see that she was indeed egg laying. I kept at a distance not wanting to disturb her, as we had zero Swallowtail eggs/cats in our garden in 2021, apart from those that we reared.

When she had finished egg laying she visited a bowles mauve to top up her energy levels and I was able to get several shots of her nectaring.

Checking the fennel plants afterwards I found eggs on all of them, with one plant containing 22 eggs including two doubles.

[millerd]

Brilliant Swallowtail behaviour, Mike - and all in your garden to boot. Fennel grows wild not far from me, but the chance of a Swallowtail coming to visit is vanishingly small...

22 eggs - will you try and rear some (or all!) of them? I think I'd be unable to resist if I felt I had a good supply of foodplant for them.

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

......Fennel grows wild not far from me, but the chance of a Swallowtail coming to visit is vanishingly small...
Cheers,

Dave

You would have said the same about a Large Tortoiseshell a few days ago

[Wurzel]

Crackign set of shots Maximus Eggs all over the place? I look forward to plenty of cat shots later

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Great observations, Mike. You're not that far away as the crow flies but it feels like a different world.

[Maximus]

Thanks, Dave, it's still quite novel for us to see Swallowtails plus eggs and cats in our garden Last year for some reason there were none, perhaps it was down to the poor spring weather. We did however rear some through the winter which emerged in spring. As bugboy says, you never know what will turn up after your Large Tortoiseshell find We may rear a few to save some from predation.

Thanks, Wurzel, there should be some cats soon

Thanks, David, it's not too far as you say. I would imagine that a number of continental species would have colonised the UK long ago, if it were not for the sea barrier. It does feel like a different world but in a nice way



12th May


First Sooty Copper of the year today

Male Sooty Copper in our garden.

followed by a female Wall on the 13th

Female Wall Brown in our garden.

[Pauline]

Somehow missed your Swallowtail post Mike. What can I say???? Looking forward to seeing more of them.