Pete Eeles

[David M]

You lucky fellow. Waxwings are one of the most attractive birds seen in the UK.

[Gibster]

I am not an expert on birds (or anything else if the truth be told) but I am seeing many reports of Waxwings "hanging about" till the spring.
I seem to recall that they are a strict winter visitor, and rarely stayed beyond February.
Certainly not as far south as you are!!
Is something odd happening here?

Firstly, what BRILLIANT pics of the Purple Emperor larvae, are they captive or tagged wild ones?

Regards the Waxwings, they arrived in Scotland late last year in very large numbers, certainly the biggest invasion for many years. The reason for these invasions is both weather related and due to the cyclical berry crop failure. Basically, the crop was very poor in Scandinavia and it was bloody cold too! So they were forced across the North Sea in search of food, found Shetland, Orkneys and northern Scotland and began gobbling their way southwards. I watched the bird info services with much interest as the hordes edged ever closer to me in Surrey!

What's occurring now is the same birds are returning to their breeding grounds, but will move through much more directly, driven as they are to get back onto their breeding territory. And if the weather is warm, many can be watched flycatching - something not very often seen in Britain. Guess the spring really is arriving early this year?

Gibster.

[Pete Eeles]

I am not an expert on birds (or anything else if the truth be told) but I am seeing many reports of Waxwings "hanging about" till the spring.
I seem to recall that they are a strict winter visitor, and rarely stayed beyond February.
Certainly not as far south as you are!!
Is something odd happening here?

Firstly, what BRILLIANT pics of the Purple Emperor larvae, are they captive or tagged wild ones?

Thx - yes, currently in captivity. All of them will get to adulthood and be released

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Pete tells us that his PE larvae are:

.....currently in captivity. All of them will get to adulthood and be released

Let me say that I have no problem with that so am not suggesting there is anything wrong; indeed, I bred them myself many years ago from stock collected in the wild.

But can you Pete - or someone else - point us to the guidelines (regulations) about what can legally be taken in the wild in Britain for breeding and what can't? I don't feel that I break any rules taking a few Orange Tip eggs every year but clearly High Browns Fritillaries would be a very different story. There is a list somewhere of protected species but I can find it.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Jack - my iris were captive bred.

The situation regarding the law is summarised here:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_law.php

and various BC policies here:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_policies.php

Cheers,

- Pete

[Zonda]

But can you Pete - or someone else - point us to the guidelines (regulations) about what can legally be taken in the wild in Britain for breeding and what can't?

If it were my decision, party pooper me would say 'NONE', with the key phrase being 'taken from the wild'. Habitat reconstruction, and maintenance is the way forward for all species, with limited and BC controlled release programs of some butterflies, recently lost. IT'S ONLY AN OPINION.

[Pete Eeles]

Midgham lakes / Woolhampton Gravel Pits

I managed to escape for an hour this morning, arriving at the local "Orange-tip hotspot" around 0915 and leaving at around 1030; knowing that Orange-tip males never stop once they get going, I was determined to get there early! I saw 23 Orange-tips in total (21 male, 2 female), 3 Holly Blue, 2 Peacock, 3 Comma, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Green-veined White, 8 Speckled Wood. A great start to the butterfly year proper! Some photos below. The area is a birding hotspot, and seeing the shimmering blue sheen of a local Kingfisher was another highlight!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

... 23 Orange-tips in total (21 male, 2 female), 3 Holly Blue, 2 Peacock, 3 Comma, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Green-veined White, 8 Speckled Wood.

I'm interested to know how you count, Pete. Given that orange tips patrol territories, sometimes making round trips and sometimes simply going back and forth along a flowery path, how do you get a figure for how many there were? Or does the 23 represent the number of sightings rather than individuals?

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

... 23 Orange-tips in total (21 male, 2 female), 3 Holly Blue, 2 Peacock, 3 Comma, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Green-veined White, 8 Speckled Wood.

I'm interested to know how you count, Pete. Given that orange tips patrol territories, sometimes making round trips and sometimes simply going back and forth along a flowery path, how do you get a figure for how many there were? Or does the 23 represent the number of sightings rather than individuals?

Guy

Very valid question, Guy! This particular site is a "loop". So, yes, I may come across the same individual on occasion, but don't retrace my steps.

I used to carry a digital voice recorder with me (and still do on foreign trips), but now do it all by memory - so numbers will inevitably be out by a margin now and again. When numbers are large, I also count a given species in terms of 10s, 50s and 100s. Not particularly scientific, I know!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Midgham lakes / Woolhampton Gravel Pits - part 2

A very quick jaunt this morning before some family friends arrived - spending just over an hour at this wonderful site! All of the usual suspects, although not as many Orange-tips seen when compared with my visit on Friday. Still, following a couple of female Orange-tip led me to some new areas where Cuckooflower was abundant - areas I'd not visited before! This site seems to contain a good mix of both of the primary larval foodplants - Garlic Mustard and Cuckooflower. Holly Blue were seen every few minutes or so and I had 3 sightings of Comma ovipositing. No Green-veined White but several Speckled Wood. With the season now at full speed, the thought of work tomorrow doesn't fill me with glee

Cheers,

- Pete

Mr. Orange-tip

Mrs. Orange-tip on Cuckooflower

[Pete Eeles]

Midgham lakes / Woolhampton Gravel Pits - part 3

I thought I'd make the most of fine weather, despite the massive drop in temperature, and headed off to my local hotspot - seeing a selection of Orange-tip, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue, Green-veined White, Comma and Peacock. Numbers are well down, however. I was particularly interested in understanding how the Orange-tip were coping with the lack of suitable Garlic Mustard, their favoured larval foodplant at this site. After 10 minutes of finding no eggs whatsoever, I took a look at some isolated Cuckooflower plants and every single one was absolutely covered in eggs! The shot below is a typical plant:

And in the shot below, I've marked up those eggs visible in the shot (12 in total). This plant had 21 eggs on it in total!

A close up of a recently-laid (white) egg and one that has been there for a couple of days (orange) is shown below:

And another shot showing 3 eggs:

Magdalen Hill Down

I also popped into Magdalen Hill Down to see how things were unfolding, given the recent sightings. Despite the cool breeze there were still quite a few butterflies around - especially Brimstone!

I also saw a single Small Copper, a single Green Hairstreak (although I didn't look too hard for them!) and 5 Grizzled Skipper. All in all, not a bad morning!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Midgham lakes / Woolhampton Gravel Pits - part 4

I just can't get enough of my favourite local site and, today, heard my first Cuckoo of the year, amid the song of Blackcap and Cetti's Warbler. Marvellous! Intermittent sun brought all of the local species out and, in particular, the ever-present Orange-tip. At one point I was sat next to a patch of Garlic Mustard just waiting for the next visitor to come along and nectar! Eventually, the sun disappeared and I managed to find 6 Orange-tip roosting - quite easy to spot once you get your eye in! Some photos below.

Cheers,

- Pete

Roosting male

Roosting female

[Piers]

Hi Jack - my iris were captive bred.

The situation regarding the law is summarised here:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_law.php

Pete,

Should the site not be revised to show the down grading of the Large Blue's status under schedule 5 in the last quinquennial review?

(Please delete this from your diary should you wish).

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks - do you have a reference for this? I can't seem to find any downgrading in the downloadable Wildlife and Countryside Act spreadsheet!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Piers]

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended 2007). Species other than birds specially protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981(as amended): Schedule 5 (Animals). Maculinea arion amended in 2007, currently 9(4)(b)and (c) and (5) only.

According to THIS THREAD you amended the page on the webiste when this topic was discussed back in 2009...

Felix.

[Pete Eeles]

Marsh Fritillary in Gloucestershire

I revisited a site seen earlier in the year when hundreds (if not thousands) of Marsh Fritillary larvae were present, and it was great to chat with the Gloucestershire BC butterfly recorder, Chris Wiltshire. Top bloke! There are still plenty of larvae around - but all are now in their final instar. Given another tip-off, I was hoping to find fully-grown larvae, pupating larvae and pupae! Unfortunately, I only found two pupating larvae and a single pupa whose patterning and colour is just so cryptic! The Devil's-bit Scabious has been absolutely decimated, with larvae wandering some distance to find food and this dispersal doesn't help the inquiring entomologist! On the subject of foodplants, this would appear to include Honeysuckle, with several leaves some distance away from the primary "larval hotspots" showing evidence of being eaten. Whether this is down to Marsh Fritillary or not I don't know (there were no larvae on the plants) but might suggest that they are using this as a secondary larval foodplant when times get tough, and as literature suggests. Some photos below, including my first video

Cheers,

- Pete

Final instar larva

Final instar larva

Pupating larva

Pupating larva

Pupa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wop-8hJ3WMA[/video]

[Jack Harrison]

Two points Pete.

I used to live in Gloucestershire so knew some of the "old" localities for Marsh Frit. I am not fishing to know the whereabouts of your recent sightings (but I can more-or-less guess). But were your observations at the main site or the recently discovered nearby satellite colony?

The video is remarkably steady. Tripod I presume?

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Two points Pete.

I used to live in Gloucestershire so knew some of the "old" localities for Marsh Frit. I am not fishing to know the whereabouts of your recent sightings (but I can more-or-less guess). But were your observations at the main site or the recently discovered nearby satellite colony?

The video is remarkably steady. Tripod I presume?

Jack

1. See PM

2. Absolutely!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

All Manner of Doings!

I'm not quite sure how to characterise my day - so "all manner of doings" it is. The only sensible sequence in which to describe my hectic day is in chronological order. So here goes: ... !

First off, I decide to take photos of some species I'm rearing in captivity, early in the morning. As Matthew suggest on the Purple Empire (http://apaturairis.blogspot.com/), we have a mix of 3rd and 4th instar Purple Emperor around at the mo. So, some photos ...

3rd instar larva settled on a silk pad, preparing to change skin

And, of course, a 4th instar larva ...

4th instar larva

And a video because my new camera lets me do this. No other reason

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwFdFCkvtbg[/video]

And then the postman turns up, delivering me a copy of the Sussex Butterfly Report, which is just superb. Neil (Sussex Kipper) tells me he'll be bringing along copies to the photo workshop on 30th. A wonderful read from start to finish.

So I then head over to Hartslock, a local nature reserve in Berkshire, with my youngest son, Chris. Having parked the car, we find 2 Small Heath - massively early for this time of year! We arrive at the reserve and bump into Derek and Cathy Brown, who I've known for years and are leaving the reserve as we enter, telling us that they've seen superb numbers of Dingy and Grizzled Skipper (good job too, since we turned up to see the former!). We have a good old chat and lament the fact that none of us has seen a Red Admiral this year. We go on our separate ways and, within seconds, hear a cry of "Red Admiral"! Lucky day, I guess!

Heading onto the reserve, the number of Dingy Skipper was just stupid, seeing an individual every 20 feet or so, and a Grizzled Skipper now and again! Clearly, this site is really working for these species - although I didn't see any Green Hairstreak, which is really unusual for this site. There were also plenty of Pyrausta species around too.

Dingy Skipper

Dingy Skipper underside (kind of!)

Grizzled Skipper

We then returned home and so I thought I'd better take the dogs out for a walk! The first stop was a nearby site where I've marked up twigs containing Purple Hairsteak ova. I knew they wouldn't be worth looking at for a while, given that newly-emerged larvae simply bury themselves in the developing buds, but was pleasantly surprised to find this chap/chapess (and glad I took my camera!):

Purple Hairstreak larva

I also realised that a couple of White-letter Hairstreak larvae I've been rearing in cut foodplant (in water) need a "refresh":

White-letter Hairstreak larvae

So I head off down the road (200 yards) to get some fresh elm (where I released last years' progeny), get home, and see this on the elm I've just brought back:

Now I can't repeat the expletives that came from my mouth, but it's a good job nobody was within hearing range. Either the last batch reproduced, or we have a local colony of White-letter Hairstreak! Either way, this "new colony" will be left in peace! It always amazes me what we sometimes find on our own doorstep!

All in all - the best of days. And as I took an evening walk, I was transported back to my childhood, with Orange-tips, Speckled Wood and Green-veined Whites all around me. Superb.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Noar Hill

A morning spent in the good company of Roger Buchanan, Robin Turner and Maurice Pugh. It was also good to bump into John Hemmings and other UKB members on site! An absolutely tremendous showing of Dukes, with over 30 seen by the group (rough estimate). 4 or 5 individuals could be found in every chalk pit, across the site. Also several Dingy Skipper which are just starting to emerge, along with the first Green Hairstreak seen at the site, and a good showing of Holly Blue too. As well, of course, as the usual suspects! Some photos below.

[What follows is my personal view - and not that of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight branch of Butterfly Conservation (that I chair).]

Unfortunately, the blackthorn required by Brown Hairstreak appears to be completely mismanaged - not only have entire rows of bushes been removed, but the growth favoured by Brown Hairstreak seems to have been largely removed too along, no doubt, with all of the overwintering eggs that were on them. Seeing such devastation really spoiled my day and I will be writing to the relevant authority.

Cheers,

- Pete

Female

Male on Cowslip

Male underside