Territorial Camberwell Beauty

[Padfield]

Matt Rowlings and I spent a very enjoyable hour today standing in a stream watching a Camberwell beauty defend his patch against commas, peacocks and at one point two other Camberwell beauties. We had the rare pleasure of seeing three CBs in the air together, at one point.

I tried not to interfere with the butterfly too much, so I didn't stalk him for perfect photos, taking most from some distance. But I did try to catch a little of his aggression on video. In this snippet he sees off my dog! The last few seconds show him chasing a second CB away.

http://www.guypadfield.com/movies/antiopa091.wmv


One of his favourite perches was a branch over the stream.






Frequently he returned to this rock.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Wow - what fantastic behavioural observations - thanks for sharing, Guy. Especially for those of us in the UK who rarely see such a critter - let alone its behaviour!

Do you have the same success with the location of oviposition sites? Not that there's a correlation, but I suspect that females are equally-fussy as to where they lay!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Do you have the same success with the location of oviposition sites? Not that there's a correlation, but I suspect that females are equally-fussy as to where they lay!

That's something to work on! But we do now have a handful of sites where they are regular in spring, so maybe a whole day devoted just to watching this species is in order. I'll put it to my boss.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

I'm sure Asha won't mind And please say "hi" to Matt for me - for some reason, he feels part of the family! Possibly a case of all the "butterfly geeks" sticking together

Cheers,

- Pete

[Trev Sawyer]

...and I can see why it returns to it's favourite "seat" in your last photo Guy...

...If you look very carefully, you can see that there is a little computer screen balanced on the rock.
Maybe it's trying to log into UKButterflies?

Trev

[Paul]

Never seen one... .... but feel like I have now!

[Padfield]

...If you look very carefully, you can see that there is a little computer screen balanced on the rock.
Maybe it's trying to log into UKButterflies?

I didn't spot that, Trev! Perhaps he was logging on to streaming video...

Paul, you will see CB, rest assured. It will most likely be in high summer, when they appear pretty much anywhere, at random. I've photographed one at 2400m in the Pyrenees, on a barren, windy mountain, and seen them along the banks of low-lying lakes in France and Germany. The summer ones are more elusive and never hang around long but because they are so dispersed you are quite likely to get at least a brief viewing. For the spring ones you really have to be in the right place.

This was the second time my dog has been buzzed by a CB. In 2006 one actually landed momentarily on her but she moved before I could take the picture. I've just got this record of the occasion, with her again ceding her place to her tiny attacker:



Guy