July 2009 Sightings

[Pete Eeles]

Has anyone else come across 2nd brood Inachis io?

This is apparently an unusual occurrence - but does happen in good years.

Cheers,

- Pete

[BOO]

North Notts,,, just south of Retford.. Visited Eaton Woods over the last 2 weekends and have had great views of 20 species of butterfly including 6 Silver Washed Fritillary, 2 White Admiral. Unfortunately no pics of them but one amazing wood, managed by coppicing and full of life!!! A credit to Notts wildlife trust. Ste,,

[Susie]

I have a feeling all mine looked like that too. I thought it was normal. I will see if I can dig out a photo. Won't be as good as yours though, that's a cracker.

Not really a sighting - more of an observation. I've been rearing Brown Hairstreak this year (responsibly, I hasten to add - all captive bred stock!), which are just starting to emerge. As usual, males first, and they're all aberrations! 3 have emerged that all look like the one below - with extensive pale orange markings - which I believe are ab. spinosae (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-cur ... me=betulae).

I'm not sure if this aberration is genetic or environmental. If it's the latter, I can only assume that the effects of the hot start to the summer had an effect on the larval stage. Any insights would be appreciated.

Cheers,

- Pete

IMG_7815.jpg

[Susie]

Susie
Purple hairstreak and brown hairstreak in your garden, thats awesome, how did you manage that.

Colin.

I moved to West Sussex. It does help being in some of the best brown hairstreak territory going and having mature oaks in and around the garden.

[Pete Eeles]

I have a feeling all mine looked like that too. I thought it was normal. I will see if I can dig out a photo. Won't be as good as yours though, that's a cracker.

Well, it was taken "in captivity", so it won't be in any competitions! But thanks!

I've looked through all of my books and the amount of colouring on the makes seems extremely variable - from none to "a lot" (whatever that is)! Perhaps we could club together our photos to help come to some consensus on what's an aberration ... or not!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Susie]

Oh haha, Pete

I only have three upper shots of three different male brown hairstreaks but this is one - each male actually has a different pattern but this one looks similar (to me) to yours.

[Pete Eeles]

It sure does. So I wonder if "those in the know" would consider this an aberration too?

Help!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Susie]

And this the dark form abberation? What do you think?

[Susie]

And this one somewhere in between but still not "normal".

[Pete Eeles]

And this the dark form abberation? What do you think?

I think this might be ab. tippex

Of course, this might be ab. holeinthewing

Sorry Susie - no idea, I'm afraid. Clearly - there's an awful lot of variation here!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Susie]

Yeah, that is a hole in his wing. Poor little blighter must have hatched out and immediately impailed himself on a blackthorn spine cos he looked like that 5 minutes after hatching. It does clearly show that there is absolutely no colour at all on the forewing though.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
I spent a very enjoyable day on the Steyning Downland Scheme area (West Sussex), looking at the Rifle Range, Lower and Upper Horseshoes and the Round Hill. A good tally of species (26!) including Clouded Yellow (3), Wall (23, including two mating pairs and an egg-laying female), Purple Hairstreak (1), Silver-washed Fritillary (1), Essex Skipper (1), Small Skipper (3), Large Skipper (1), Brimstone (2), Large White (9), Small White (2), Green-veined White (4), Brown Argus (3), Chalkhill Blue (5), Common Blue (16), Holly Blue (1), Painted Lady (50+), Small Tortoiseshell (2), Red Admiral (2), Peacock (13), Comma (2), Speckled Wood (6), Gatekeeper (25), Marbled White (2), Meadow Brown (50+), Ringlet (3) and Small Heath (1). No sign of the Brown Hairstreaks yet on either of the Master Trees, but I suspect they will start any day now. The Wiston Estate should be congratulated on some of the habitat management work that has recently been done here - the scrub area of the Lower Horseshoe is already looking a lot more butterfly-friendly, and there are some major, positive changes in the pipeline. The entire site looks set to improve markedly in the next couple of years.
Neil

[Pete Eeles]

Yeah, that is a hole in his wing. Poor little blighter must have hatched out and immediately impailed himself on a blackthorn spine cos he looked like that 5 minutes after hatching. It does clearly show that there is absolutely no colour at all on the forewing though.

Ah! I thought that "hole" is what you were referring too

Well - from what I've read - this chappy is actually the "normal" form. Which makes some of the others striking variations!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Susie and Pete,
Nice abs! No idea how common this is, because the topside of male Brown Hairstreaks is a pretty rare sight in the wild! My gut feel is that it's probably genetically rather than environmentally influenced. As Pete's stock comes from a breeder, it is quite likely that a relatively confined (genetically) 'population' is bringing out a recessive gene. Very pretty!
Neil

[Jack Harrison]

Friday 31st. Two hours on Bald Hill (part of Aston Rowant reserve to south of M40) accompanied by Mike Rubin in very mixed weather turned up circa 12-14 Silver Spotted Skippers with three seen simultaneously on one occasion. Met some other butterflyers there including Sezar (sahikmet) from this group.

Jack

[Ian Pratt]

Seen yesterday on Brading Down Isle of Wight.

[Susie]

Glorious images, Ian. You continue to take some of my absolute favourite photographs!

Pete: Going by the link you put up I thought that the male was suppose to have a faint trace of orange on the forewing. If so then the picture of the hairstreak with the hole in his wing may be ab. unicolour as there is no colour at all on the forewings.

[Susie]

Hi Susie and Pete,
Nice abs! No idea how common this is, because the topside of male Brown Hairstreaks is a pretty rare sight in the wild! My gut feel is that it's probably genetically rather than environmentally influenced. As Pete's stock comes from a breeder, it is quite likely that a relatively confined (genetically) 'population' is bringing out a recessive gene. Very pretty!
Neil

Curious. None of my "babies" were from a breeder and from the three photos I have of males each one differs from the norm as far as I can see. Looks like it is something worth looking into.

What will you do with your hairstreaks now, Pete?

[Pete Eeles]

What will you do with your hairstreaks now, Pete?

Very good question, Susie, and the most important of them all. My view is that if you don't know what you're going to be doing with the adults that is within the law and common sense, then you shouldn't be breeding anything.

I'm going to be breeding these through and will make any resulting eggs available to others who also want to rear this species. Releasing these into the wild isn't an option, I'm afraid, since I don't know the genetic history of the stock I have.

The Entomological Livestock Group, to which I belong, has hundreds of members that share their stock among one another. It's the members of this organisation that have kept the Large Copper going in captivity (maintaining the genetic diversity by sharing stock) and that is also responsible, on occasion, for providing stock for reintroduction programmes (although this is normally achieved by finding a donor population in the wild which is a far better solution). In addition, the skills of the members in breeding even rare species is often drawn upon when reintroductions take place in order to initially develop a strong population that is suitable for a reintroduction.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Seen yesterday on Brading Down Isle of Wight.

I love the second photo Ian - well done!

Cheers,

- Pete