Pete Eeles

[David M]

It may be a fairly common species, but its behaviour and its secrecy make that shot worth more than any Large Blue open wing image.

Well done.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Pete,
That Purple Hairstreak image is fantastic. I suspect your fave shot of the year so far? I too have been waiting a while for one like that - me next please
Neil

[Pete Eeles]

Thx David / Neil,

Yes - there are some specific shots I suspect we all want to get and sometimes it just takes time. Took me 5 years to get my first open-winged shot of a Large Blue, so on a par with the Purple Hairstreak!

Something else rather strange struck me too as I sat there watching this female open her wings - getting shots in the wild is just so much more enjoyable than any "staged" shot I've taken in captivity!

Cheers,

- Pete

[David M]

Thx David / Neil,

Yes - there are some specific shots I suspect we all want to get and sometimes it just takes time. Took me 5 years to get my first open-winged shot of a Large Blue, so on a par with the Purple Hairstreak!

Tell me about it. I'm still trying to get a Holly Blue open wing shot!

[Pete Eeles]

Pamber Forest

Yet another trip to Pamber Forest - one of my absolutely favourite sites, and one that I've gotten to know really well over the last 10 years. It's a big place, but I think I've walked every single path now, and certainly know the hotspots

Having watched the clouds pass by, and the rain do its stuff, I knew that White Admiral would be nectaring as soon as the sun showed itself given that their normal breakfast had been delayed by a few hours! This was about 1300 and, right on cue, I saw 6 White Admiral nectaring on the same Bramble bush. Unfortunately, thanks to the dogs, this number was quickly reduced! But it does, indeed, seem that White Admiral are having a superb season this year by all accounts.

Several Silver-washed Fritillary were also flying about, and I saw my first female SWF of the year - although it looked a little strange from a distance. As I crept closer, I could see it was aberrant (I think my first aberration of the year!) and freshly emerged (a dab of meconium was visible at the tip of the abdomen, and the wings somewhat "floppy"). Once the cloud moved out of the way, she "did her stuff" and opened her wings fully.

Female Silver-washed Fritillary aberration

And her underside seemed to show curtailed silver washes.

Female Silver-washed Fritillary aberration

Aside from a good number of Meadow Brown, a few Ringlet, a next-generation Green-veined White and a few Brimstone, are Large Skipper having a superb year or what? I've never seen so many. Every flowering Bramble bush had 2 or 3 sunning themselves!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

She is wonderful, Pete! Such bold upperside markings and such subtle underside colours.

Guy

[Susie]

I'm jealous of your ab swf!

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Guy /Sooz,

Not a bilateral gynandromorph though, is it? Not that I'm complaining!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Shirley]

Such great photos Pete . Clive and I have spent the last couple of weekends exploring the Forest as we only visited for the first time last year (on several occasions) and are no where near as familiar with it as you but already know it will be one of our ' hot spots' . We felt lucky seeing our first White Admirals and S. W. Fritillaries along with the Large Skippers and are in awe of your knowledge and expertise. .

[Pete Eeles]

Such great photos Pete . Clive and I have spent the last couple of weekends exploring the Forest as we only visited for the first time last year (on several occasions) and are no where near as familiar with it as you but already know it will be one of our ' hot spots' . We felt lucky seeing our first White Admirals and S. W. Fritillaries along with the Large Skippers and are in awe of your knowledge and expertise. .

Flattery will get you everywhere Seriously, drop me a line if you fancy a guided tour

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Pamber Forest

Another of my captive-bred Purple Emperors emerged late yesterday afternoon - a very large and very beautiful female. This morning, I released her into suitable habitat (the same location as the male released a few days ago), although it was a good 30 minutes before she decided to fly up into an oak! The first photo also shows a fly (deliberately) to give some sense of proportion!

Female Purple Emperor

Female Purple Emperor

I then headed off, again, to Pamber Forest. The place is just alive at the moment! I was particularly keen to spend a chunk of time observing Large Skipper and checking out the antennae! Pauline's excellent observation of using the colouring of the antennae to determine sex does, indeed, seem to hold true, although it's very subtle on occasion. The mating pair below is followed by a photo of the mother of the egg that is also shown. With most species, I find that locating eggs is most-easily achieved by finding a female that is acting rather strange, and then following her. Watching her bend her abdomen around a grass blade and depositing an egg on almost every occasion was just wonderful to watch!

Large Skipper mating pair

Female Large Skipper

Large Skipper ovum

The new generation of Red Admiral are also starting to emerge - I saw 4 in total, all absolutely pristine.

Red Admiral

But this poor chap has seen better days. I was amazed he could still fly, but was still hunting out females when not nectaring!

Ancient White Admiral

And finally, I'm rearing a single Speckled Wood (from egg). I managed to catch it just as it had moulted into the 2nd instar larva. The massive black head is just so distinctive!

Speckled Wood 2nd instar larva

Cheers,

- Pete

[Bill S]

Marvellous story and pic on the Purple Hairstreak Pete, thanks for sharing.

Bill

[Pete Eeles]

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days

I guess I'm just in a good mood with a sappy title like that. Anyhow - some doings from the past few days.

I met up with Clive and Shirley Sandel, and Mike and Tom Alexander, to show them around Pamber Forest - one of my favourite locations. The butterflies put on a really good show, with White Admiral out in really good numbers (including, at last, a few females), along with many Silver-washed Fritillary (including a mating pair), a single Purple Hairstreak and the usual "others". The White Admiral has to have one of the loveliest undersides of any butterfly!

Silver-washed Fritillary mating pair

White Admiral

Back home, Gerald (the Grizzled Skipper larva) is acting like the rest of his kind, and VERY difficult to photograph. He pops out of his protective shelter early morning and in the evening to graze the leaf cuticle but, at any hint of disturbance, disappears back under the silk shelter he's woven. It then takes another 20 minutes for him to even poke his head out again!

Is it safe to come out?

Supper!

This morning I released my final captive-reared Purple Emperor - another spectacular female and, again, very large!

Purple Emperor female

Purple Emperor female

I then moved on to Stockbridge Down and was pleased to see really good numbers of Marbled White, alongside a dozen Dark Green Fritillary and a single (and very fresh) Small Tortoiseshell. Also good numbers of Small Skipper. I found a just-emerged female Marbled White climbing up a grass stem and watched her slowly pump up her wings. Within a few minutes, a male flew by, landed next to her, and mated (without any discernible courtship). They stayed "in cop" while her wings dried.

Marbled White mating pair

Small Tortoiseshell

I then drove over to Pitt Down, part of the Farley Mount Country Park complex, and saw around 15 Dark Green Fritillary (including 2 females) among the many Marbled Whites and a very fresh Peacock, which had clearly recently emerged given its pristine condition.

Dark Green Fritillary

All in all, having a good time of late

Cheers,

- Pete

[Clive]

Now you sound like the Fonz ...

Thanks Pete for the excellent tour around Pamber Forest ... stunning ...

Clive

[Pete Eeles]

Immature Stages

Since it's currently chucking it down here in Switzerland, I thought I'd catch up on my photos from back home over the last week or so. All of these are of immature stages, something I'm absolutely fascinated with!

I'm currently looking after a couple of Large Skippers, after a female decided to pay a visit to the local park and deposit the eggs in an area that will get strimmed before the end of the year. The head of the larva is clearly visible in the egg just before it hatches (see below). The larva then wanders along the leaf before eventually finding a spot where it can form a tube by threading the two edges of the leaf together with silk, and from which it emerges to feed just above the tube. Fascinating stuff!

Large Skipper ovum, about to emerge

Large Skipper larva on the move

Large Skipper larva in its first tubular home

Large Skipper in grass tube

Large Skipper in grass tube - closeup

I've also been fascinated by those species that either always, or occasionally, lay their eggs while in flight (or when settled) but simply drop them onto the ground. I've had Meadow Brown and Ringlet in the garden, and also found a colony of Marbled White close to where I live. In all cases, I popped a female in a cage with extremely fine netting for 10 minutes. In all cases the females laid one or two eggs which were then photographed before being released. I did keep one Meadow Brown egg back in order to observe the "colouring up" that occurs before it, too, was released.

Meadow Brown ovum - newly laid

Meadow Brown ovum

Ringlet ovum

Marbled White ovum

Keeping with the theme of Marbled White, almost all of those I've been rearing at home are either close to pupating, pupae or emerged (and released).

Marbled White pupa just prior to emergence

Marbled White larva, pupa, pupa

And finally, a final trip to Pamber Forest, where the White Admiral are doing superbly well. I noticed at least half a dozen females ovipositing on honeysuckle that was always in shade or dappled sunlight; but never on honeysuckle in full sun. It took me absolutely ages to get the shot below (and took over 50 shots of this one egg in total) but finally captured the absolutely exquisite nature of what must be the most amazing egg of any British butterfly.

White Admiral ovum

Cheers,

- Pete

[Vince Massimo]

Great stuff Pete . An absolutly fascinating set of images. I am starting to get hooked on early stages as well, particularly watching how the pupal stage develops in the different species. It is very time consuming, but rewarding when you get the killer shot (after discarding 99% of the rest). Today my last two Brown Hairstreaks hatched within minutes of each other, which is a bit of luck because that means only one trip to the release site in Crawley...................I really must get out more

Cheers,
Vince

[MikeOxon]

Pamber Forest The new generation of Red Admiral are also starting to emerge - I saw 4 in total, all absolutely pristine.

I noticed that your Red Admiral photo has white dots inside the red band, like one I saw at Fermyn a couple of days ago. At the time, I thought it was an aberration but I have read since that this variation occurs mainly in females. I don't know how frequently this form occurs, but it is rarely mentioned in field guides.

Mike

[Pete Eeles]

Pamber Forest The new generation of Red Admiral are also starting to emerge - I saw 4 in total, all absolutely pristine.

I noticed that your Red Admiral photo has white dots inside the red band, like one I saw at Fermyn a couple of days ago. At the time, I thought it was an aberration but I have read since that this variation occurs mainly in females. I don't know how frequently this form occurs, but it is rarely mentioned in field guides.

Mike

Hi Mike - I think this is a perfectly normal occurrence found in both sexes.

Cheers,

- Pete

[MikeOxon]

Thanks Pete - it's something I have just missed noticing before! I've revised my posting to describe it as a variation rather than an aberrant.

Mike

[Piers]

Pamber Forest The new generation of Red Admiral are also starting to emerge - I saw 4 in total, all absolutely pristine.

I noticed that your Red Admiral photo has white dots inside the red band, like one I saw at Fermyn a couple of days ago. At the time, I thought it was an aberration but I have read since that this variation occurs mainly in females. I don't know how frequently this form occurs, but it is rarely mentioned in field guides.

Mike

Mike is quite correct; bialbata is usually expressed in the female of the species, more rarely in the male.

Piers.
(with apologies to Pete for the post in his diary.)