Padfield

[David M]

I think you've made an astute purchase with your new camera, Guy.

Given the pin-sharp quality of those images perhaps you should let us know what it is?

[Padfield]

Hi David. The camera is simply the next iteration of my previous camera. That was a Powershot SX60 HS and the new one is a Powershot SX70 HS. It cost CHF 499 (= £440) at Migros Electronics (I must have bought the last one in stock - it now says, 'livrable dans 4 semaines'!):

https://www.melectronics.ch/fr/p/793439 ... 70-hs-noir

Although Switzerland is an expensive country, some things are much cheaper here, including electronics and public transport!

The jury's out on quality, as I haven't had any real opportunities for careful, composed shots, but I took it on a jaunt to my old hunting grounds near Villars today and it certainly scored well on the snatching-decent-pictures-in-a-hurry front, when butterflies materialised, settled a millionth of second and flew off again. The reason I haven't had good opportunities is that there are just so few butterflies around, and those that are are making up for time by zooming around like beings possessed. I've never known such a dire spring. I came back from Spain on 8th April with 56 species under the hood (yes, I'm sort of twitching this year, after 4 years away from Switzerland) and only got my 60th species today. That was pearl-bordered fritillary -a species that should be abundant by now, but was flying in pitifully small numbers, and males only. Species 59 was violet fritillary - again in very low numbers. Amazingly, I saw no grizzled skippers, at what should be a reliable site. The grizzlies here in the Vaud mountains are malvae, so a different species from the malvoides I saw in Spain and in the Rhône Valley of Valais.

Here are a few piccies from today, beginning with a reminder to Minnie of her raison d'être:



That was a long-distance zoom shot. Fortunately, I spotted this chamois before Minnie and was able to put her on the lead. I wasn't so clever with the next one, but at 11 years old she chased it for about 50m then gave up.

Here's a violet fritillary at bugle ...



... and here another one taking a quick break from looking for females:



The pearlies were all fresh males:



There actually wasn't that much bugle, but they were devouring it ravenously and restlessly when they found it:



Here's a wood white supping at a violet:



I searched for purple emperor larvae without success. The problem is, in the last 5 years the woods have changed - some sallows have died, others have become overshadowed by other trees and still others have sprung up where there weren't any before; and although I'm sure there are still plenty of emperors there, I no longer know the prime spots.

Here's an interesting thing:



The male lizard seemed to have his teeth clamped around the female. They were both stationary and I didn't even notice the biting with the naked eye - I just thought they were in close contact. When I had taken the pictures, Minnie disturbed them and they scuttled off (together), so the female wasn't injured by the bite or anything like that. Here's a closer crop:



A little research on the internet tells me that male lizards do indeed bite females and hold onto them to keep them hot for mating. Apparently, they can hold them for hours or even a couple of days.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of images Guy My stand out favourite and very high on my personal wish list has to be the Chequered Blue

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Thanks for the information vis-à-vis your camera, Guy. It's certainly had a promising start to life with that workout.

Glad Minnie cut short her chamois pursuit. Would probably be easier chasing seagulls!

[Padfield]

Hi David. Chamois have never been seriously bothered by Minnie. They just bound gracefully away. Grasshoppers, on the other hand - they have reason to fear her!

Hi Wurzel. Normally, I'd say just nip over to Switzerland and I'll show you some chequered blues, but this year it's been dire. Rain, rain, rain ... It rained while I was in Spain and it's rained almost every day since then, with one or two notable exceptions.

It rained today, too (and is raining now, as I write), but for a brief period in late morning there was some intermittent, hazy sun, and I took Minnie along a local contour (more or less) walk. I really just wanted to find out how the local blackthorn was doing, because although the bought one on my balcony is now in full leaf, none of my brown hairstreak eggs have hatched.





It turned out the wild blackthorn was in flower now but with hardly any leaves - and the betulae eggs were also unhatched:



There were a few orange tips drifting around and I found this egg on the first garlic mustard I checked:



I also found this meadow brown caterpillar wandering painfully slowly across the path (it was about 9°C at the time):



It's carrying a very tiny bug - I hope not a parasite, but I didn't notice it at the time so I didn't remove it.

A couple of green hairstreaks were out and about in the cold too. This one was laying eggs on bird's foot trefoil:



When she had finished, I moved in for a better photo:



There was also a single dingy skipper doing its best. It was 100% cloud cover when I took this photo:



Finally, a cheerful bullfinch, who together with his mate was picking up bits of stuff for their nest:



Guy

[Wurzel]

"Normally, I'd say just nip over to Switzerland and I'll show you some chequered blues"...If it wasn't for work I'd already be on the plane Guy I know what you mean about the weather - it's been one decent day followed by several poor ones over here at the moment

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Good to hear Minnie knows her limits, Guy!

You've given that new piece of kit a good workout in your post. Looks like you've got the hang of it already.

The bullfinch is divine. I can never get within 15m of them round here.

[Padfield]

I know what you mean about the weather - it's been one decent day followed by several poor ones over here at the moment

It's the same here, Wurzel, except for the bit about the decent days ... Quite catastrophic.

Thanks David. Yes, I'm getting the hang of the new camera. I've fiddled about with the settings a bit to get better pictures. For example, I set the ISO to a fixed 100, as I have a steady hand and when the camera's on auto I get some dodgy granularity (even when the exif says it took the picture on ISO 100).

I think my betulae eggs are growing little caterpillars inside. This one looks noticeably different now even to the naked eye:





Others show varying amounts of black within, but given the prevailing gloom it's actually difficult to see, or to get good photos.

It is the birds I really feel for. This poor old black redstart must have great difficulty finding enough insect food for himself and his wife, let alone any nestlings they might have:



I remember one spring, about a decade ago, when it rained all May and black redstarts were throwing young out of their nests to reduce the number of gaping bills to feed ... I hope that this year, with bad weather since they arrived, they will have adjusted the brood size before laying rather than resorting to such drastic measures.

Guy

[Padfield]

After kicking off with such an incredibly early spring in Spain (two-tailed pasha flying on 1st April), I find myself now stagnating in what must be the latest Swiss spring I've known. It's rained or snowed almost every day since I got back from Spain, and on the very few days of sun, little has flown. Today the forecast was for heavy cloud but no rain, so I decided to go up to my nearest violet copper sites and see how the vegetation was progressing. They are at 1700m-1800m, where snow has fallen recently, so I expected it to be late. Unfortunately, the train up there wasn't running today, while they did work on the line (yes, that occasionally happens in Switzerland too!) so I had to fall back on looking for purple emperor and white admiral caterpillars in woods lower down. Amazingly, I found no purple emperors. Amazing, because I know those woods like the back of my hand and they're chock full of sallow - but no cats. I can only imagine that natural changes in the woods - growth of other trees &c. - has led to the females laying in different sites from the ones I used to know. I checked as many trees as I could, but there are thousands altogether and it is a relatively small population of emperors. I may have to wait till July, when the eggs are the easiest stage of all to find (this is not a site I can visit at night and search by UV, as I live a valley away).

As for white admiral, I found just one caterpillar, despite there also being masses of honeysuckle. But I might have been looking wrongly! I was expected 4th instar or early 5th instar at this date. For example, this picture was taken on 6th May (2014):



And this - a 5th instar in all its glory - was taken on 22nd May of the same year:



Today's loner was a tiny 3rd instar (about 5mm long - maybe 6mm - and deep in shade):



I had been looking for the normal feeding signs of older caterpillars so maybe missed things in front of my eyes.

While looking for those cats, I saw this equally tiny thing lurking in the shade of a honeysuckle (if you can call it shade when there's no sun):



If anyone knows what it is, I'd be interested to know. It's clearly an insect, but not necessarily an adult.

Despite the weather, I saw a single painted lady and a single orange tip.







And this is the best weather we've had for some time ...

Guy

[Padfield]

I think I've answered my own question. The mystery insect seems to be Orchesella flavescens - a species of slender springtail. Apparently, it's not a true insect but a non-insect hexapod.

Guy

[selbypaul]

Wow, it really does sound like a depressingly grey/wet/cold spring in Switzerland this year!

How late compared to a "normal" year do you think you are now? I'm guessing three to four weeks?

[essexbuzzard]

CH is looking very lush this year, Guy. Though I’m sure a bit of sunshine wouldn’t go a miss...

Things have at last improved over here now, allowing spring to get properly underway.

[Padfield]

Hi Paul. 'Normal' years are difficult to define, especially at altitude, as the snows melt at different times each year. It's also difficult to judge the lateness of the season when basically nothing is flying at all! But yes, your guess of 3-4 weeks is probably a reasonable ball-park figure. I might get a better idea tomorrow, as I have some time free in the morning and it might (might) be sunny for a short while. I recced Leysin at exactly this time last year, when I was considering moving out here, and had some great sightings. I'll visit the same sites tomorrow morning if it doesn't rain, for a direct comparison.

Hi Buzzard. Yes, lush! But cold ... I've been watching the season progress in the UK with great interest!

There is a wych elm about 10mins walk from my house which struck me as perfect for white-letter hairstreaks. The leaves have just come out and although I couldn't see any feeding patterns when I passed yesterday (in the daytime), I thought I'd check it tonight for caterpillars. Most of the branches are high, and scanning with the UV torch produced nothing, but then scanning one of the lower ones, I spotted a familiar glow on a twig - not on leaves. It was a third instar white-letter hairstreak caterpillar, still showing just a hint of red, that had obviously only just moved off the flowers:





That might explain the lack of leaf damage - the cats haven't started on them yet! I'll check this tree for more, and in the next week or so check trees a little further afield. I saw some very suitable elms on one of the local hills, Le Suchet.

Guy

[selbypaul]

Thanks Guy. Look forward to your future reports!

[Padfield]

Thanks Paul. As promised, the weather was sort of OK yesterday (hazy cloud) so I repeated the same mountain walk I did on 22nd May last year. It is very clear things are considerably behind. At the marsh frit, Glanville frit, grizzled skipper, alpine grizzled skipper, Duke of Burgundy &c. site, I initially saw just a single grizzled skipper and a single green hairstreak. Later in the morning, when the sun was shining more confidently, I found lots of green hairstreaks there and added a single Berger's clouded yellow, a single orange tip and a single Queen of Spain to the list. At all altitudes during the day - even up to 19h00m - green hairstreaks and small tortoiseshells were flying but these were the only common butterflies. At lower altitudes I also saw a single swallowtail, a single small heath, a single common blue and a single large white, as well as a seemingly numerous local population of violet fritillaries. These last were interesting because they were mostly in a rather poor state but there has been almost no chance of flying over the last few weeks. I think many of them must have emerged and been sitting around all day in the rain...

Here are a few shots from the day:


(this green hairstreak was at about 1770m)


(the only grizzly of the day)


(perhaps the hardiest Swiss butterfly!)


(a rather worn violet fritillary)


(c. 1800m)


(c. 1900m)


(setting off down the mountain again)


(still a long way to go ...)


(coming back to the Duke site)

Guy

[Padfield]

And finally .. the sun!

Today, 22nd May, felt like the first day of summer, with clear blue skies and warm(ish) sun:



Unfortunately I had work to do most of the day, but on a brief lunchtime walk I did find my first sooty copper of the year:



In late afternoon I went up to see my Leysin American School students graduate - for yes, this is the end of the school year! It was a beautiful day for it, though as the event went on it did start to rain again!







Guy

[Padfield]

A second consecutive day of sun yesterday brought out some more sooty coppers but little else. Rain and thunder returned to the Alps by the evening and today has descended into thick cloud again with near zero visibility.

My brown hairstreak eggs still look as if there are caterpillars inside but none have emerged yet. I wonder if they were in some way damaged when their original blackthorns were massacred with chain saws. I haven't checked the wild ones this week, though was disturbed to note last week that much more of the blackthorn has now been cut. I think a lot of the locals see blackthorn more as a prickly nuisance than a valuable resource for butterflies ...

A fresh sooty copper from yesterday, and a new-generation small tortoiseshell:





Guy

[David M]

Good to know you've finally had a bit of sun, Guy. It's been pretty grim round the western Med lately, but then again the region was in need of some precipitation following that prolonged dry spell earlier this spring.

[Padfield]

I'm so glad rain is falling in Spain, David. That heatwave and drought was deadly to wild creatures.

At the same time, we have finally got proper sun here in Switzerland! I was able to go out on Friday, Saturday and today, Sunday, to catch up on a few special species. On Friday, it was violet copper. Again (this was my second attempt this year), I discovered at the last minute that the train wasn't running, but Minnie agreed to walk up (from 1250m to 1800m) providing we took the wooded route most of the way:



I have to be careful with her as she's 11 years old and no puppy any more, but she made it OK and even got back down again afterwards!

As expected, it was still early days for the coppers, but I saw three males at about 1650m (Minnie had to go back down from 1800m to 1650 to the site, then back up to 1800m!) and another four at a different site at 1800m. Here's one photographed through the vegetation:



There was amazingly little flying at all - my regular refrain this year! Normally I would see loads of coppers (including sooty coppers too), as well as chequered skippers, dingy skippers, little blues, tit frits and much more besides. On Friday, a single little blue, a single dingy skipper and none of the others. Lots of green hairstreaks, though. Here's one on a gentian and one on a forget-me-not:





The first northern walls of the year were flying at 1800m

Yesterday, we checked out two sites in Valais, the first for Iolas blues and the second for Provençal fritillaries. The Iolas site is increasingly shrubby and there are hardly any bladder sennas left, but I did see a single, male Iolas blue bounce through, so the species persists. I heard today they are going to clear some of the site and plant fresh bladder sennas in the autumn. I've been constantly pointing out that this was, until recently, the Swiss epicentre for Iolas blue and it had really run to seed. A single, female cardinal flew through.

At my second site, things were equally thin on the ground but I did find a few Provençal fritillaries - all fresh males:



This was nice, but in a way even nicer were the spanking fresh southern white admirals, in constant battle with ageing hippy Camberwell beauties! The southern white admirals were defending territories conspicuously ...







... while the Camberwell beauties actually spent most of their time flat out on the ground:



But the beauties were also cruising up and down the track, and when they passed an admiral, the latter would zoom out and chase it off. At least, that's what it looked like. But I took some iPhone video as they dog-fought around me and in flight it was always the beauty chasing the admiral. These are cropped frames from the video:





New for the year was black-veined white:



Today's mission was mountain dappled white, to add to the western dappled, Portuguese dappled and green-striped whites I saw in Spain. I cycled Minnie to the bottom of the road where they fly but she did then have to walk up the road herself and this was another tough day for my little fighter! Right at the top, we always look for meadow butterflies rather than dappled whites, and she had a moment's relaxation up there:



But the dappled whites themselves were an adventure for her. There was so much traffic on the road, including weekend motorbikers, I decided to climb a gully where the foodplant grows. This is the general scene:



The foodplant, Erucastrum nasturtiifolium, grows sparsely but widely all over those rocky surfaces:



The male butterflies drift up and down the gully (which extends a considerable way up and down the mountain), checking the plants for females and occasionally settling on them. There was no shade at all for Minnie, so I arranged my bags and stood at a suitable vantage point, providing some relief for her:



Sadly, the males never stopped on the plant I was positioned by, but they did stop about 30m up the hill and with the help of superzoom I was able to get identifiable shots:



This picture shows where that was, in relation to where I was standing (the foodplant heads are the tiny yellow dots just out of the shade):



We then had some considerable difficulty getting back down again! The narrow shale track had collapsed and there was no safe way, so Minnie had a real adventure, during which either or both of us could have ended up with broken legs. But she trusted me completely, did exactly what I said ("Tu restes là ..." when she was on a precarious precipice and I had to scale down first) and made it down safely!

Wood whites were drifting up and down the same gulley, but they ignored the Erucastrum completely and were easily identified by their slower wing beats and gentler flight. They occasionally landed on nectar-rich plants up the banks.



So finally, the season is moving!

Guy

[Chris L]

Some wonderful photos Guy. The Powershot SX70 HS is evidently a fantastic camera. Such clarity and colour with every photo. This might be one for my shopping list.