Neil Hulme

[Neil Hulme]

Fuerteventura (Part 1)

I recently returned from a few weeks in Jandia, on the southern tip of Fuerteventura. I've visited a number of the Canary Islands in the past, and different resorts on Fuerteventura, but having been here with Hannah last February, this is currently my favourite spot. Lovely (golden) sandy beaches, spectacular terrain ..... and of course lovely winter sunshine . The often strong winds usually blow 'up' the island, so on the occasions when cloud forms over the landmass and covers much of Fuerteventura, the Jandia area offers more 'sunshine hours' than the norm. Just what the doctor ordered for a severe SAD sufferer! The resort is also within walking distance of Morro Jable, a lovely little fishing village with some excellent restaurants on the waterfront. It's quite quiet down here and 'mainly German' (many being naked ), so it's blissfully free of Union Jack shorts and 'lager louts' .

Jandia Beach

View Towards Morro Jable

While here last February we saw very few butterflies, so it was a nice surprise to see seven species and some nice moths, as well as some good birds and other wildlife. We kicked off with Long-tailed Blues, seeing a total of 40 - 50 over the entire holiday. Our first floor balcony was level with the crown of a medium-sized tree and Hannah soon spotted 'little butterflies' flitting around it. This turned out to be the main assembly point for male Long-tailed Blues in the hotel grounds! Every morning 8 - 10 of them could be seen sunning themselves, and racing around close to the canopy until meeting a rival and spiralling high into the air. Their behaviour was very similar to White-letter Hairstreaks. Elsewhere, single male L-t Bs would fiercely defend their territory from isolated Aloe vera plants, day after day. In the mornings we sometimes saw quite a number of these butterflies on the short grass around the accommodation blocks, where they would congregate to enjoy a drink supplied by the plant sprinkler system.

Long-tailed Blues

Towards the end of the holiday, as the numbers of worn and tatty L-t Bs started to decrease, we started to see much fresher-looking Lang's Short-tailed Blues. These were much rarer, with only a couple of males and one female present. They were similarly aggressive and attacked the stripy local bees and passing dragonflies.

Lang's Short-tailed Blues

Last of the Blues was a single African Grass Blue. Often referred to as the 'flower bed blue', this species seems to make a habit of hanging around hotel gardens.

African Grass Blue

[Jack Harrison]

Neil. Were your landscape shots taken in HDR mode on your FZ38? Those pics do come out rather well – makes me want to go to Canaries. I like the HDR mode but resolution is less good than in other modes, presumably because HDR always uses an ISO of 400.

Jack

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Jack,
Yes they were. I agree about the resolution, but for some landscape shots I think the slightly 'blurred' effect is rather nice, with the 'feel' of the image being more important. With shots showing e.g. dark tree branches against a snowy background, I think sharpness is very important.
Neil

[Jack Harrison]

I've put a post on the Photographic page about HDR with some interesting links.

Go here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4803

Jack

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks Jack,
Luckily I only have to turn a dial and press one button on the FZ38 - I wouldn't want to get more technical than that .
Neil

[Jack Harrison]

And Neil, you might recall who initially told you about that mode I didn't think it would be too technical for you

It is indeed just a rotation of the little wheel but you do have to do some preliminary setting up to ensure that is the mode you get when you select Scene (SCN). We are of course talking here about the FZ38 - but no doubt some other cameras have similar controls.

Jack

[Matsukaze]

They were similarly aggressive and attacked the stripy local bees and passing dragonflies.

I've seen this behaviour with Speckled Woods and Small Tortoiseshells this year. For a lycaenid to try it seems particularly suicidal. I'm surprised it is a behaviour that persists.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Matsukaze,
I agree that it does seem 'suicidal', but sometimes attack is the best form of defence! It's often a behaviour pattern which signals 'vulnerability' that triggers a predatory attack, which is why wasps, hornets etc pick their moments very carefully - rather than constantly chasing everything 'willy-nilly'. This doesn't usually include attacking a potential predator, which is why we so often see small birds mobbing sparrowhawks and 'getting away with it'! That said, I do remember Matthew Oates recounting an attack on a Spotted Flycatcher by a Purple Emperor, only for the flycatcher's mate to zoom in from behind and nail the angry butterfly - a great dogfight by all accounts!
Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Fuerteventura (Part 2)

The butterfly that I most associate with Mediterranean and Canarian holidays is the Geranium Bronze (once famously found in Crispin's East Sussex garden!). In our Jandia hotel grounds they were few-and-far-between this time, and I saw only one battered female and this handsome little chap. Being quite elusive, it took three days of 'delays' on the way to or from our room or the pool before I found it sitting nicely for a photo. Like many 'little brown jobs', when fresh and observed at close quarters, they really are quite beautiful.

Geranium Bronze

Our fifth species of butterfly was the one I'd hoped to see most. One afternoon, as Hannah and I ascended the zig-zag path at the southern boundary of the hotel, we were met by a magnificent Monarch, as it glided down the slope. It very nearly settled, but one of the many resident cats decided to try and knock it out of the air. Off it went, never to be seen again.

Also hanging around the hotel were a few dragonflies, including a Lesser Emperor. However, the most common species was Red-veined Darter, one of which obligingly sat right behind our room for most of the holiday.

Red-veined Darter

[Jack Harrison]

Neil

With the Geranium Bronze infestation (for want of a better word), how are the cultivated geraniums managing in Fuerteventura?

I ask because on a visit to Malta in October 2008, the geraniums were few and far between, the most successful plants being on first and second floor balconies (presumably Geranium Bronze doesn’t normally fly that high). Yet on a visit to Malta in March this year, geraniums were much more in evidence in public gardens and street-side plantings. Of course, the difference could be purely poor observation on my part. But much more likely is that the garden/street examples in March were newly planted from nursery stock that had been sprayed with insecticide.

When I found the species in 2008 (not a great surprise I have to say) I did wonder given the paucity of lepidopterists in Malta, if I might have made the initial discovery of the species there. Indeed I don’t know of any Maltese lepidopterists since Anthony Valletta died in 1988. That brings back memories. Tony and I used to go butterflying together in the 1970s.

Pete. I think you have contacts in Malta. Is there anyone interested in butterflies?

Anyway, research when I go back home showed that I had not made the first observations of Geranium Bronze in Malta; those had been made by frustrated gardeners a couple of years earlier.

Another scenario does occur to me, one I have mentioned in another thread. Perhaps initially, the Geranium Bronze population could literally explode in the absence of natural (eg predator/parasite) control. Maybe the local bird population has now discovered just how tasty the caterpillars are. Or perhaps their natural parasites from their place of origin, southern Africa, might now also be present in the Mediterranean population so after the initial huge increase in numbers, the situation might have become in better balance. Just ideas.

I do agree. Pretty little butterflies but a shame about the choice of foodplant. Pity they don’t use tomatoes. I cannot stand tomatoes (foliage has a fine smell, but the fruit ...... very annoyingly, the merest taste makes me gag)

Jack

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Jack,
The Geraniums seemed to be thriving - and the gardens here were generally very well looked after. Nice spot for a bit of winter butterflying. I reckon going at the start of November would be very rewarding.
Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Fuerteventura (Part 3)

The sixth and seventh species of butterfly seen around Jandia were rather more familiar. Every afternoon a pair of Red Admirals would cavort around the rear of our accommodation block, often landing on the wooden balustrades to sunbathe. It felt a little odd seeing them here, having spotted one in my garden the day before leaving home!

Red Admiral

We also saw 8 Painted Ladies; a couple around the hotel and a small group at the rocky summit in the hills behind Jandia.

Jandia Hills

Painted Lady

As dusk fell we occasionally came across Striped and Hummingbird Hawkmoths hovering at the garden flowers. On our excursions around the SW of the island we spotted a few interesting birds, the best of which included Hoopoe, Southern Grey Shrike, Fuerteventura Stonechat, Ruddy Turnstone, Berthelot's Pipit, Whimbrel, Little Egret, Raven, and a pair of resident Kestrels at the hotel.

It's always tempting to try somewhere 'new' for a holiday, but I think I'll be returning to Jandia at least once more.

[Matsukaze]

the geraniums were few and far between, the most successful plants being on first and second floor balconies (presumably Geranium Bronze doesn’t normally fly that high).

whilst in southern Spain this year, I noticed two sparring around a balcony shrub two floors up, and have seen them fluttering in the street at well above head height. They may be spreading out as I saw one along a woodland ride about half a mile from the nearest housing and no Pelargonium in sight.

[Colin Knight]

Neil, great holiday photos, your island had more butterflies than mine...

[Susie]

I think geranium bronze cats feed on cape daisy and other flowers as well as pelagoniums/geraniums though, don't they?

[Neil Hulme]

Brown Hairstreak Egg Hunt And Species Mapping

On Saturday 11th December Michael Blencowe and I held a masterclass in Brown Hairstreak egg hunting at Steyning Rifle Range. It was very pleasing to see twenty BC members turn out for an event in winter! After giving some background information on the very successful Steyning Downland Scheme project, followed by a description of the Brown Hairstreak's life-cycle and egg hunting tips, we entered the Brown Hairstreak Reserve area and ensured that everyone managed to 'get the hang of it'. It was like shooting ducks in a barrel, with c.60 eggs being rapidly found in a relatively small area; the reserve is certainly proving to be a success!

Branch committee member Penny Green (and 'other half' Dave) brought along a microscope/laptop set-up, so the attendees could get a really close-up view of the detailed ornamentation on the surface of the eggs. It was also useful in getting close-up images of the more elongated eggs, laid in pairs in similar locations, of the Blue-bordered Carpet moth. It was important to highlight these differenciating features, as we then sent the group off in different directions to continue our survey of the Brown Hairstreak.

Throughout the afternoon I received calls and texts from members who excitedly reported their successes (including Susie who had found them in Southwater Woods). I struck gold in three tetrads around Cissbury Ring, and found eggs in two new tetrads around Steyning, and a further two beside the A24 between Ashington and Buck's Barn. Almost every blackthorn sucker I looked at held Brown Hairstreak eggs, including this 'lucky three' at Bay Bridge.

By the end of the day we had increased the number of tetrads known to (currently) support this species from 83 to 109. All of this data is being fed into our 2010-2015 Sussex Butterfly Atlas Project. By 2015 I imagine we will have a very accurately constrained distribution for Brown Hairstreak, which is clearly sprinkled widely across West Sussex. Michael Blencowe subsequently sent me the up-to-date campaign map.

[Padfield]

I'd be interested in a follow-up on the 'lucky three'. I found a triplet last winter and only one of the three ever hatched:



Around 50% of the eggs I found locally hatched out.

Guy

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Guy,
I'll let you know how Tom, Dick and Harry get on in their attempts to bury out.
Neil

[Susie]

I found a triple on Saturday at Southwater which should be easy to find again (I cunningly marked the location) so I will see how they progress too and report back.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Susie,
Names, names, vee must have zerr names!
Neil