Final countdown

[Padfield]

For those (very) few of you who have followed my race to 200 species this year, I thought I would post the final few here. Paul very kindly left half a bottle of fine brandy (what happened to the first half, Paul?) to wet the 200th baby's head. It shouldn't be long now...

Number 197 was a life tick for me, Pyrgus warrenensis, or Warren's skipper. I knew the general area it flew in but it was fun hunting out exactly the right terrain and finding the target among all the other skippers around. Today I spent 4 hours on public transport, cycled 46km and walked 14km, all for this little creature:


(female)

I saw probably 4 in total, capturing 2 for ID and prison mugshots, but on release from their momentary captivity they bounced away over the scree in the midday heat and I couldn't get any natural, flower shots. Never mind - I've found a site. I can do that next year.

It was an amazing day - the heatwave in the Alps has clearly favoured the butterflies. Every flower head on the way up to the warrenensis site was covered in scaly colour:



(burnets, large ringlets, a dark green fritillary and an Apollo).

Number 198 will be posted soon...

Guy

[David M]

Amazing shot.

I must indulge in a field trip abroad myself next year (preferably in July, since the conditions here over the last four years have been appalling).

[Lee Hurrell]

Good work Guy That's dedication indeed for the Skipper.

I'm looking forward to the next few reports!

Cheers

Lee

[Paul]

awesome!

I think I lost a few more braincells to pickling that night.

[Padfield]

Thanks David and Lee. It might be as soon as tomorrow for no. 200, weather permitting . I'm going up for another life tick, Erebia flavofasciata, which I looked for last year less than half a kilometre from where my friend Yannick found it a few days later. If it doesn't rain, Yannick is taking me there tomorrow. At the same site fly Pyrgus cacaliae, which bizarrely I haven't seen yet this year, and Erebia gorge, which I probably have seen this year but didn't count because the view wasn't good enough (I don't want my best year ever to have any 'maybes' in it).

Of the 197 so far, 38 were seen only in India (I've seen painted lady in India and Switzerland) but the remaining 159 were all in Switzerland, and in fact all reached in day trips from my house. The species density in the Alps, and in Valais in particular, is extremely high.

Guy

Paul - when I was a schoolboy I asked a visiting speaker, who had come to talk about alcohol, if you lost any brain cells permanently when you had a binge. He said yes - approximately 5000 per pint. You could have heard a pin drop!

[Lee Hurrell]

How many species do you see in a normal year in Switzerland Guy (with no foreign trips)?

Cheers

Lee

[Padfield]

It goes up every year, because every year I target a few more species that I haven't previously seen - and obviously, once you've found them you can easily revisit the sites.

I would say a beginner, exploring on his own with minimal help from locals like me, would probably get about 100 species in the first year and then build on that. I normally see around 150, and if I drove this number would probably be higher because driving permits much more flexibility, and the chance to visit several sites in a day. This year, with just a little more luck (and having had a little help from my friends, who drove me around all over the place when they came out), my Swiss list will probably close marginally closer to 170 than 160. That remains to be seen!

I'm not normally a twitcher - just this year!

Guy

[Padfield]

I'd hoped for more of a dramatic build-up, but although it was difficult, on very high, steep terrain and in poor weather, I clocked up the magic number today.

198 - Erebia gorge (silky ringlet) - no picture because I made the mistake of thinking it was glued to a rock and it wasn't. But Yannick was there and confirmed the ID.

199 - Erebia flavofasciata (yellow-banded ringlet) - under the conditions, which were not at all good, this was very hard to find. It is an extremely local butterfly, requiring very specific habitat. But after about an hour's searching under glowering skies and impending rain I found a sheltered hollow where a couple took to the wing and got a few photos of one individual:


(carrying a load of acarians, but this won't hamper him in any way)





200 - Pyrgus cacaliae (dusky grizzled skipper) - at last a 2010 tick for this relatively common butterfly that has evaded me all season:





Finally, a quite different butterfly from today that might be of interest to some. This is a classic female Boloria napaea, which might explain why I use this sex to identify the presence of napaea and pales palustris at a site, rather than the males!!


Those are the absolutely honest, natural colours!!

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Goodness, 160+ in one country! That Boloria napaea is an amazing colour. Is that a normal female or the equivalent of valesina?

I plan to get my 50th UK tick for the year tomorrow – Silver Spotted Skipper at Aston Rowant. It'll be the first half century since 1976!

Jack

[Padfield]

50 is a lot more than I ever got when I lived in the UK!! Well done (assuming you get it tomorrow...)!

That is the colour of a freshly emerged female napaea. Later they look more dully grey, though at the right angle there is always a bit of blue-green in there. This sheen is absent in pales.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Guy:

....colour of a freshly emerged female....

Ah, a bit like the “patina” (probably not the right word but it’s often used) that is seen on newly emerged Meadow Browns and in this example, Brown Argus.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Today I spent 4 hours on public transport, cycled 46km and walked 14km, all for this little creature ...

Now that is commitment. My hat off to you, sir

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

I agree – that’s superb dedication. But try explaining that to a non-butterflyer.

Jack

[Paul]

Congratulations Guy... lifting that glass as I write.. lovely species to make the magic number, that is some frit!! flaviofasciata must have given you a great feeling when you found it.

[lee3764]

Goodness, 160+ in one country! That Boloria napaea is an amazing colour. Is that a normal female or the equivalent of valesina?

I plan to get my 50th UK tick for the year tomorrow – Silver Spotted Skipper at Aston Rowant. It'll be the first half century since 1976!

Jack

Well done assuming you get S.S.Skipper tomorrow.
I got 50 different species in 1994 before I was married and that was travelling everywhere from Fort William to Norfolk Broads from my home base in Cornwall!! Lotsa miles & all annual leave was used up in 3 months doing this so had 9 months with no holiday break! Worth it though!
Oh happy carefree days caning it up & down the motorways to butterfly sites & not getting a speeding ticket!!
Cheers,
Lee (Cornwall).

[NickB]

Well done Guy! I'm still sorting through my stuff and I have couple of Frits I'm not sure of...
But that female is just stunning!
N

[Padfield]

Thanks for all the various comments. I've been enjoying a flute and piano evening so haven't been at the computer to reply. Oh, and wine and brandy, still left over from the UK Butts delegation, for which many thanks!!

E. flavofasciata is, like many Erebia, a real species with a very restricted distribution. I say 'real species' because it is clearly different from anything else, in form, habit, habitat &c., and yet occurs only in a tiny region in Switzerland and Italy (in two subspecies - one in the Grisons and one in the Tessin/Italy region, which is the one I saw today - all the individuals on Matt's site are of the Grisons subspecies). Luckily, its domain is so remote and difficult to reach it is entirely unthreatened by human activity. The colony I visited today was last recorded in the 1960s, before Yannick checked up on it last year (he is religiously working through all the ancient records, verifying or in some cases rejecting them). It continued unobserved through all the intervening years, obviously. If rain hadn't stopped play, our second mission today would have been to do a census in a nearby 1km square that has never been recorded, ever! Who knows what we might have found.

I've only got three Swiss Erebia left to see and might well take a trip next week to find two of them, sudetica and nivalis, which fly close to each other. I find this really exciting - these species have persisted since the last ice age in tiny communities. Each Erebia is truly a different species - as different as Adonis blue and chalkhill blue - but in reality more like a family or clan than a species. It's almost personal to discover each tiny community. The third and last Erebia will be styx, which I won't see this year. That will be a mission for next year.

Jack, the 'patina' of certain fresh satyrids and lycaenids is undoubtedly related, at least in terms of physics, to the colours of female napaea. But in this last case it is taken to a whole new level, where it becomes an essential part of the colouring, just as the purple refraction of a purple emperor is an essential part of its colouring. It is a beautiful and surprising thing to see in a fritillary - almost as surprising as the fabulously original white colouration of cynthia, a species I saw plenty of today, confirming my theory that it is actually a reasonably common butterfly but in high mountainous areas that are extremely difficult to reach on foot!!


(A male cynthia at 2400m today)

Guy

[Rogerdodge]

Guy
I have a glass of excellent whisky alongside me as I write this.
I toast your perseverence, stamina and knowledge.

Cheers

[Vince Massimo]

Great stuff Guy, you've had a really good year (so far). I salute your dedication and single-mindedness.

I also greatly looked forward to, and enjoyed, your Purple Emperor notes this season. Thanks for keeping us all entertained and for continuing to further our education.

Cheers,
Vince.

[Lee Hurrell]

I agree, I have learnt a lot from your reports this year Guy and I admire your dedication and knowledge!

I'll raise a glass to you over the weekend.

Cheers

Lee