Padfield

[Roger Gibbons]

That is some image of deione, Guy, perfectly captured and with a depth of field that is probably beyond the reach of most macros.

I doubt that even top-of-the-range expensive cameras could match that.

And, of course, it's not just the camera, it's the person behind it.

Roger

[Padfield]

Thank you Otep and Roger. As always, there are compromises to be made when it comes to choosing a camera. I agree, the SX70 HS gives very adequate results, but bear in mind I compress these pictures for storage on my server and the originals are in fact not nearly as good as comparable pictures from a more expensive camera. One reason for this is the small sensor. The sensor size enables superzoom without lenses a metre long but necessarily results in reduced performance at low light or high ISOs, and lower dynamic range. I’ve used the Canon Powershot range for many years now and know many of the tricks to get the best output from it - including field tricks with the butterflies, of course - but it’s very much an amateur’s camera, I would suggest. That’s fine for me - I’m very much an amateur!

Guy

[Chris L]

Thanks Guy. I must dispute your self proclaimed amateur status though. Your photos look professional to my eye. I went in to the realms of camera hunting today and had to go and take a lie down with a suspected fried brain.

It is another conversation piece in itself perhaps but I did actually tell myself off on Prestbury Hill on Saturday. I told myself sternly to 'Live in the moment!' instead of trying to take photos. I told myself to savour watching and enjoying the butterflies around me and store the images in my brain memory card. There is a fine balance to be struck between using camera and eyes. I will learn.

[Padfield]

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, Otep (the professional quality of my pictures)!

I completely agree about spending time just enjoying the butterflies, though. In our desperation to capture the moment, we too often fail to live it, and end up with a picture of a moment we never really experienced.

I did both today - I watched and breathed, but also took some photos! The main targets were black hairstreak, large copper and Reverdin's blue. Of the three, large copper is the easiest, but I didn't actually find any. The black hairstreaks, on the other hand, were on excellent form:





I only noticed the caterpillar under the leaf in that first picture after I had got home. I don't know what the species is:



There was surprisingly little flying with them. Normally, marbled whites and meadow browns fly in the same fields, with lots of fritillaries. Today, none of these were on the wing, though I saw a few meadow browns and some fritillaries at other sites, later in the day.

I saw just one Reverdin's blue, but that was enough to make me happy. I'm confident they are protected at the site I saw it (a nature reserve) and I have to be rather careful there as dogs are strictly not allowed. I popped Minnie into her backpack and walked to where I thought the blues would be, then when I saw I was completely alone, I let her out. She only wanted to find a nice place to lie down in the shade and dream about chasing chamois.



Oberthür's grizzled skipper is relatively rare in Switzerland. I saw a couple today:



Here's a female blue I'm tentatively calling green-underside, though I'm not 100%:



And here are my first meadow brown and knapweed fritillary of the year:





To close, a few dragons and damsels. There were loads flying today:


(Gomphus pulchellus)


(Orthetrum cancellatum)


(Libellula quadrimaculata)


(Coenagrion puella)


(Platycnemis pennipes)

Guy

[Wurzel]

That Reverdin's is a thing of beauty Guy I'll have to chalk that one up with the others I'd 'love to see' - the list keeps getting bigger

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Nice that you've got Black Hairstreaks locally, Guy.

[bugboy]

I reckon that thing under the leaf is a Ladybird larvae, the legs certainly look like they belong to one.

[Padfield]

Thanks Buggy - you're right. I knew it reminded me of something but just couldn't put my finger on it.

Not that local, David! Although I have photographed black hairstreak locally, the single female I found (back in 2013) was badly damaged and I concluded she had accidentally arrived in cut hay or in the grille of a car. For this year's insects, I caught the train to Geneva, then cycled 14 km out into the countryside to where I knew I would see them. The full cycle trip, including the other sites and then back to Geneva station, was about 40km.

Hi Wurzel - yes Reverdin's blue is beautiful. Then again, I find all blues beautiful - they are easily my favourite group of butterflies!

Yesterday, John Green, whom some on these forums might know, drove up from Grenoble in the hope of finding Iolas blue at my increasingly overgrown site. We had a great day, and I was very happy we even got record shots of iolas. This one was through the undergrowth but shows the butterfly quite clearly:



Other highlights included a very amenable mating pair of Provençal fritillaries, of the Swiss subspecies berisalii:





They were clearly not camera-shy:


(that's me...)


(...and that's John)

There were plenty of southern white admirals around, one of which found me very attractive:



We were both struck by how few butterflies there were altogether, even though we saw some good stuff. Where normally there are clouds of leps, today they were out in ones and twos, and some normally common species were quite absent.

On the dragonfly - or damselfly - front, I photographed this female Enallagma cyathigerum without noticing she was munching on a fly like a kid with a burger:





The spring that never really sprang is almost over. Here is a green-underside blue showing its age ...



... and here a Camberwell beauty that may be pushing 11 months by now:



Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

Nice that the Southern White Admirals come to you, now.

I remember the first one you saw, near Toulon in 2004? (it was when we saw Furry Blues – you were en route back from the Pyrenees), we were having lunch where we were staying, when you spotted a SWA which you quickly followed, hurdling a fence of about 1m without breaking stride.

Colin Jackson would have been impressed.

Roger

[Padfield]

I remember that holiday very fondly, Roger! Those remain the only furry blues (dolus) I've seen, though I've since found plenty of Forster's furries (fulgens) in Spain. I saw my first nettle tree butterflies then too ... Good times!

Guy

[David M]

So pleased you found Iolas Blue, Guy. It's not the most well marked lycaenid but its sheer size is quite something to behold.

Enjoyed your Southern White Admiral 'blood rush' almost as much.

[Padfield]

Thanks David. I admit, I'm very fond of iolas!

The last couple of days have seen a few more year ticks. First, near Yverdon-les-Bains, the lovely pearly heath, which was already very common:



This one took a shine to me ...



At the same site, a few female black hairstreaks were hanging around, usually in the shade. I didn't get there until the afternoon, by when most male black hairstreak activity seems to be over.





Today I headed for poplar admiral country. On June 6th 2015 I saw an incredible 12 individuals at one site - a feat I haven't been able to repeat. Today it was no individuals, and indeed, as ever, things were very subdued. The commonest butterfly was the poplar admirals smaller cousin, the white admiral. In the past I've filmed this here literally in hundreds, but today they were mostly in ones and twos:





This couple were feasting on a dead frog (!):



These took the vegetarian option (horse dung) ...



... while others, of a more purist disposition, fed at moss:



Others were on bark and weathered concrete - not a single one went for the traditional nectar!





Also new for the year was woodland brown - another favourite of mine:



And I picked up a single black hairstreak - a male - at this site, too:



This is an excellent site for both lesser purple emperor and purple emperor. I'll be back in a week to see if there is any advance - and perhaps a poplar admiral or two ...

Guy

[selbypaul]

Some lovely images Guy. That one of the Woodland Brown particularly caught my eye - wonderful

[essexbuzzard]

Woodland Browns are fantastic creatures, aren’t they? Glad you’ve got them near you.

[Padfield]

Thanks Paul and Buzzard. Woodland browns are locally common in Switzerland but vulnerable at a national level, as indeed they are vulnerable in much of Europe. They are a real treasure.

Last night I went to check on the wild brown hairstreak caterpillars. Sadly, most of their blackthorn has been cut down or otherwise damaged but I was able to locate three caterpillars. All were very small - maximum 5 mm - and I think 2nd or 3rd instar. This one has just moulted into 3rd instar and has its old skin at its feet:



Here are the other two:





There were lots of Geometrid caterpillars on all the bushes, as well as this strange, leech-like caterpillar which I can't identify:



Yesterday I checked a local myrtle bog (at about 1450m) where cranberry fritillaries fly. They're obviously not there yet, but I wanted to see what else would be flying. Despite very iffy weather (it's been sunny in the mornings recently, but cloudy then rainy in the afternoons) I saw several Dukes and a couple of violet coppers:


(Duke)


(female violet copper)

Constantly changing weather meant the usually impossible wood whites were actually settling with some frequency:



I think this is sinapis rather than juvernica. Both fly in Switzerland and there's no really definitive, non-violent way of telling them apart.

Today's target was Nickerl's fritillary. This is usually flying by mid-May and sometimes as early as April, but I have the impression it has only just emerged. I saw just four rather fresh males, all criss-crossing agitatedly over the meadows in search of females. Just one put down, briefly, on the track in early afternoon and started taking minerals. It was constantly moving and constantly flicking its wings, but I managed this shot:



It is a small, dark, regularly patterned Melitaea, recognisable even in flight because of its less powerful, more flappy style compared to the other Melitaea that fly in the same place - knapweed fritillary, Glanville fritillary, heath fritillary and spotted fritillary.

Two Camberwell beauties were still on the wing at this site. Here is a record shot of one of them:



The first large blues are flying and I saw my first purple-shot copper of the year too:





Numbers of everything were down dramatically compared with a normal year but it does seem as if things are beginning to get moving now. I even saw my first graylings today, suggesting the Satyrids were not delayed by the wet spring:



Finally, a safflower skipper, an Apollo and a marbled fritillary, also from today:







Guy

[Benjamin]

As always it’s a real pleasure to read about the unfolding season in your part of the world Guy.

I think your larva is some kind of hoverfly - I don’t know them at all but a quick search says it’s something like this…

https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/e ... he-eligans

[Padfield]

Perfect - thanks Benjamin. That's definitely what it is - I didn't think of hoverflies.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Brilliant butterflies there Guy. I loved the break down of the 'who's eating what' I used to think that DGFs were pretty bright but that Marbled Frit is in a whole other league of ginger beastie

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Good to see things picking up round your locality, Guy. Plenty to drool over but that Woodland Brown is in a league of its own.

[Padfield]

You're right, Wurzel: fresh marbled fritillaries are a very bright orange. I think spotted fritillaries outdo them, though ...

Hi David. I think woodland browns are generally one of people's favourite Satyrids! I'm lucky to have so many colonies near to me.

I'll put today's pictures in a new post, so it can be at the top of a page and not take ages loading!

Guy