Padfield

[Lee Hurrell]

Good stuff, Guy.

That Queen looks fresh out of the box!

Best wishes,

Lee

[Padfield]

That caterpillar's suffered a lot. I sure hope he reaches maturity.

So do I, David! I think the sallow leaves burst in early April (the flowers blossom in March) so he's got over a month to wait - but I doubt he's noticing the passage of time!

That Queen looks fresh out of the box!

I still have no idea what the predominant stage for passing the winter is, Lee. Early Queens are small and quite dark, like this one (smaller than a pearl-bordered fritillary, for example) but you also see some small dark ones in the late autumn.

I saw my last Queen of Spain of 2011 on 11th December, having seen them on pretty well every outing since 12th February. This is truly a continuously brooded species and it may be that it overwinters in various stages, depending on when the cold weather strikes.

Guy

[Padfield]

Today, further east along the Rhône Valley, almost no butterflies flew, despite it being much warmer than yesterday. I was visiting another Queen hotspot, but one where a different balance of species flies, and found just one small tortoiseshell in a couple of hours in the middle of the day.



There were bands of tree sparrows chattering in the bushes, enjoying the change in the weather:



Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Guy:

There were bands of tree sparrows chattering in the bushes

Tree Sparrows are not all that common nowadays in England, but there's a good locality for them not far from where I live. (Flitcham opp entrance to Abbey Farm at TF736266). One day last month, another birder and I counted 37 in a short stretch of hedge but we suspected that the total flock numbered around 50. The "chattering peace" was rudely interrupted by a Sparrowhawk but we didn't observe a kill.

Jack

[Padfield]

Tree sparrows are still reasonably common in Switzerland, Jack, at low altitudes (despite their scientific name, montanus). It's always lovely to see and hear them, though - they always seem neat and clean and although they definitely belong to the chattering classes their voice is a little more melodious than that of house sparrows. I can't remember the last time I saw one in Suffolk.

Guy

[Padfield]

The Purple Empire reaches beyond the shores of Europe to those lands where fat iris caterpillar has never munched juicy sallow! Derek Longhurst, once of Sussex (where he used to chew fat with the Kipper) but now exiled to Australia, hosts a blog devoted to His Majesty. Aurelian arose in a recent e-mail exchange and Derek invited him to appear on his pages. His blog is here:

http://apaturairis.blogspot.com.au/

Currently at the bottom of the page, coincidentally, is an entry from a Swiss friend of mine, Jérôme Pellet. It is a small empire...

Guy

[Padfield]

I wasn't able to leave the house before 3.00pm today but as it was very sunny I jumped on a bus as soon as I was free and crossed the valley to my red admiral site. No red admirals were flying - surprisingly, given the weather and the fact there were so many there in the autumn. A possibility is that they bask and defend territories in the mornings and set off before late afternoon for local gardens, to take nectar. The field where they were defending territories this time last year (and last autumn) has no nectar plants at all in February.

A few small tortoiseshells were around:



As there was little to do and it was such a lovely day, I casually browsed the blackthorn for brown hairstreak eggs. I've never found them here before, but today struck lucky:







There's hardly any blackthorn here and the whole site is very isolated. I think females wander quite some distance in the autumn, searching for bushes on which to lay their eggs. It is certainly far, far easier to find eggs than adults.

Guy

[Padfield]

I had hoped to post some photos of large tortoiseshell today - and if the weather had lived up to the forecast I'm sure I would have done. In the end, however, it was largely cloudy in the Rhône Valley and any large tortoiseshells that might have woken up were in hiding.

In the occasional sunny spells between clouds, Queen of Spain fritillaries were quick to profit and could be found sunning themselves on warm rocks:





During the walk I saw about 30 small tortoiseshells - and these were willing to fly even when the sun was hidden by clouds:



A single red admiral was cruising around and very occasionally posing in one of my habitual large tortoiseshell territories:



Not every shiny white blob on blackthorn is a brown hairstreak egg. Someone has identified this egg for me before, but I've forgotten what it was:



For comparison, here is a brown hairstreak egg, on a bush a few yards away:



Blazing sun is forecast for next week. This will certainly bring a few large tortoiseshells out and I may just get the chance to go hunting for them on Wednesday.

Guy

[marmari]

Great to see activity in your neck of the woods.
Talking of Large Torts,I have made a couple of visits to the IOWs top site this last week but I have seen none,yet.
Earliest date here is the 7th March.

[Matsukaze]

Hope you get to see the LTs this year. I doubt I'll be able to time another trip to the island at the right time this year!

[Padfield]

Marmari: In the spring, male LTs spend much time in late morning patrolling territories and basking on suitable bare patches while they do it. They are easily identified on the wing by their swooping, often gliding flight and large size - there is never any confusion with small tortoiseshell. Their favourite nectar source in Switzerland is sallow blossom (which isn't out yet). When the clouds come over they have a habit of resting on tree trunks with the wings folded, when they are almost impossible to see.

March is the usual month for emergence here. In some years males emerge and defend territories from mid-February but this is the exception in my experience. I had high hopes for today because we have had a lot of sun this week - but normally it would be too early. As a general rule, I would say they are synchronised with the sallow blossom.

Good luck... I didn't know they were established on the IOW such that you could reasonably expect to see them!

Guy

[marmari]

Thanks again for the info,Guy.
Please refer to Sightings forum,MARCH 2011,for information on normally reliable LT site on the IOW.
We had a flow of renowned people last year to this site. at this time.

[Padfield]

Ah yes - I remember the discussion. I had forgotten the sightings stretched over some years. Good luck for 2012!

Guy

[Padfield]

Spent an enjoyable morning looking unsuccessfully for populi hibernacula with Matt Rowlings at a site where he had been shown one in a previous year. One of the difficulties was the terrain, which was beautiful but not particularly easy to negotiate!




(That's Matt)

Crossing the stream was sometimes perilous. I got it wrong here:



Very slippery once it starts giving way under you...

The most interesting thing we did find was this caterpillar (ruby tiger?) that looked as if it had popped up through the snow to say 'hello'!







There were other twigs poking through the snow like this but only one had a furry thing on the top of it!

On the way back we called in at my usual Queen/small tortoiseshell site. It was windy and about 4.00pm but even so plenty of small tortoiseshells were frolicking around, often in bands of three or four.



Much too windy to expect large tortoiseshells.

Guy

[Padfield]

A gap in my timetable today, coupled with the precision of Swiss public transport, allowed me to zoom down to the valley in a last attempt to find a February large tortoiseshell. Despite having very limited time I was rewarded with a brief sighting at midday, shortly before I needed to get back for afternoon lessons.



That was the best shot I could get - at least partly because I couldn't kneel in the dirt in my clean school trousers. On the whole, he wasn't interested in sunning himself but only in taking minerals, which he mostly did with his wings folded above his back. Nor did he hang around for long. But it was wonderful to see this glorious butterfly again.



His lesser cousins, the small tortoiseshells, were out in force. I counted the first 40 then didn't bother.



Queens were flying too, though in more modest numbers.



The fourth species of the day was a red admiral - quite probably the same one I saw on Saturday, as it was in the same place.

Guy

[NickMorgan]

Lovely butterflies. You lucky man. I still haven't seen any here. I want to move to Europe!!

[David M]

Hard to believe butterflies were so ubiquitous with the amount of ice on display.

[marmari]

Lovely shots of the LT,Guy.
It was very cloudy again today on the Isle of Wight so not a sniff of them at aforementioned spot.Still,tomorrow may be sunnier.Now I know what they look like I will keep an eye out.

[Padfield]

David - those contrasting scenes, of ice and warm sun baking the earth, are probably unique to mountainous regions. Poplar admirals hibernate in half shade, often near water in sheltered valleys. In such places the accumulated ice and snow will take a long time to disappear. But more open, south-facing mountainsides are quite a different affair!

On my town duty at lunchtime today, to find and stamp out evil in all its forms (students smoking, drinking &c. - which I never find, I might add), a small tortoiseshell and a red admiral flew. This was at the upper end of Villars, at over 1250m. But of course, the tourist town was built here precisely because it enjoys vast south-facing vistas and it is hardly a surprise that the butterflies take advantage of this as much as the tourists.

This last week has been very warm and I am sure more is beginning to stir in the valley. The weather breaks late tomorrow, so it will be worth a trip further along the valley to see if any different species are now emerging. The target will be Camberwell beauty, as the large tortoiseshells are already flying, but it is probable they will stay hidden a little longer. Last year they didn't emerge until 20th March and that was an exceptionally early season, with the flora well advanced. Plants - particularly ground plants - have been late this year, perhaps because the ground has been frozen solid to a greater depth than in most years.

Guy

Greetings from Switzerland: Matt just sent me a return piccie of me on that same lump of ice (before I fell in).

[David M]

On my town duty at lunchtime today, to find and stamp out evil in all its forms (students smoking, drinking &c. - which I never find, I might add

You truly are a most fair and noble judge, Guy.