Pete Eeles

[David M]

Conditions need to be right for the ants, too, who don't thrive in long, lush, shady grass! Obviously, that will be managed on Collard Hill but I imagine other colonies struggling on their own (are there some, or are they all managed?) will be challenged by this year's cool weather and rampant growth.

Guy

You're right, Guy, of course, and doesn't this show how there is no prevalent type of weather that can be considered perfect for a butterfly? Practically anything can be damaging to some stage of the process, be it the butterfly itself or the creatures/plants it relies on.

[David Simcox]

Very sorry to have missed you yesterday Pete but delighted that you saw so many Large blues and were able to take such lovely photos.
I thought I would also try to clear up a couple of points. You are absolutely right that the ant, (Myrmica sabuleti), which the Large blue parasitises, needs short turf to prosper in the UK but critically it needs the turf to be short in the Spring and late Summer/Autumn. Ground temperature is a product of turf height and this heat-loving ant needs warm ground to forage during the cooler parts of the year, (therefore needs short turf), during June, July and August the ground is warm enough under taller turf for it to be able to forage. Under warmer climes in southern Europe, it is actually too hot under short turf for the ant so it tends to dominate quite rank meadows, (usually not south facing) and uses marjoram rather than thyme as it flowers above the level of the taller turf and is therefore accessible to egg-laying females.
On Collard Hill this year the turf was short during the Spring so the ants will be doing fine, however, the late flush of grass flowers swamped the low growing thyme so that some of it is inaccessible to egg-laying females, hence the plea to visitors to undertake some 'gardening' to remove flowering grass stems. The site managers are prepared to re-introduce the cattle and ponies at the end of July to reduce the turf height for the critical Autumn period.
Most of the UK Large blue populations are managed to ensure that the turf is short at the appropriate times of year but we do have a few populations that need minimal grazing and in most years subsist on rabbits and deer.
I would expect the Large blue to be on the wing at Collard for another two to three weeks.
Hope to catch up with you Pete in July

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks for the extensive reply David - much appreciated! And yes, very much looking forward to meeting up with you.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Hampshire and Isle of Wight New Members' Day

I spent today supporting (and presenting at) the branch's New Members' Day, which we hold each year, with around 40 new members in attendance. And I have to say that, despite the weather, today was just awesome. The level of enthusiasm all round really blew me away and made me so proud to be a small part of an organisation and community that, if today is any indication, is absolutely thriving. Great support from Tim Norriss, Andy and Linda Barker, Robin and Pat Turner, Jenny Mallett, Jayne Chapman, Brian Fletcher and Roger Buchanan. We were also fortunate in having David Dennis, chairman of Butterfly Conservation, also along. And, although the weather wasn't ideal, a couple of hours on the branch's primary reserve at Magdalen Hill Down turned up trumps - with 12 butterfly species seen as follows:

Brown Argus x 1
Green-veined White x 1
Large Skipper x 5
Marbled White x 1 (newly emerged, drying wings)
Meadow Brown x 12
Orange-tip larvae x 4
Peacock x 4 larval webs
Red Admiral x 4
Ringlet x 2 (freshly emerged and the first seen this year in the branch)
Small Blue (3 adults, 13 eggs)
Small Heath x 7
Speckled Wood x 1

Lunch on the reserve

Magdalen Hill Down

11 Mullein moth larvae on one plant!

A Peacock larval web

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Magdalen Hill Down - part 2

Since I didn't take my usual camera to Magdalen Hill Down on Saturday (I was there for the BC members, not the photos!), I decided to get up early and get the shots I missed - and still get to work on time! I was particularly keen to get shots of Peacock larvae and Small Blue ova. The former were easy - with several larval webs to see (and 3 of these are within 20 feet of each other). They're each at different stages, but even the "youngest" larvae still have the characteristic Peacock speckling. And when showing those newly interested in this hobby, it's very pleasing to see the reaction when you show them the path that the larvae have taken as they've grown, since they leave their old webs (and skins) behind.

Peacock larval web - early instar larvae

Peacock larvae

Peacock larvae - on the move!

Small Blue ova, on the other hand, are an absolute nightmare! In the space of an hour I found 5 ova - but photographing something so small, with a "white on white" image (given that the ova are laid on developing Kidney Vetch seed heads), with a light breeze ... grrrr. It's a good job this was 0730 in the morning, because I must have looked like a "one man photo studio" with tripod, camera, Wimberly Plamp, off-camera flash, etc. etc. And I'm still not happy with the result! But better than I've achieved before for this species, so I guess that's something!

Small Blue ovum

Small Blue ovum

Just as I was leaving, at around 0845, quite a few Marbled White put on a show, as they patrolled the slopes in search of a female. And a Large Skipper also put on a show, buzzing everything that came within 3 feet, and decided to settle on a very photogenic flowerhead All in all - a great end to a great morning. I'm almost tempted to do it again tomorrow

Marbled White (male)

Large Skipper (male)

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Hungary - day 1

Hi all - I'm spending a week in Hungary at the wonderful Farm Lator (http://www.farmlator.hu/) - again! I thought I'd post a few images each day so that you can get a glimpse of the fauna and flora (well, butterflies ) from this wonderful part of the world. And today we stayed more or less in the area around Farm Lator, and managed to notch up a total of 51 species - quite amazing! Since a full report will be produced I intend to simply upload a few photos each day. Guy - we've yet to catch up with Hungarian Glider, and so Common Glider had to do

Common Glider

High Brown Fritillary - seen almost everywhere

Map (summer form) - also seen everywhere

Green-veined White enjoying some salts on the road

Marbled White female (f. leucomelas)

Weaver's Fritillary

My nemesis - Woodland Grayling. Only took 6 years to finally catch up with this beast!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Lovely pictures, Pete! I look forward to your daily offerings...

Can we do requests? How about Leptidea morsei for tomorrow?

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Guy. Well, we've seen plenty of Leptidea, but separating sinapis from morsei is, I believe, impossible in the field - so any tips you have would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Gothic_dreams]

Some lovely photos Pete, always interesting to see whats about in other parts of the world

Chris

[Padfield]

Well, we've seen plenty of Leptidea, but separating sinapis from morsei is, I believe, impossible in the field - so any tips you have would be greatly appreciated!

You're surrounded by experts so I have to be careful what I say, but I thought morsei was easy in the field. It's noticeably bigger, conspicuously falcate and a sort of papery white what makes it look very different. I've seen exactly one (in Hungary), which I identified in flight and followed for some time while it ummed and aahhed about where to sit down (in that it was very similar to the other Leptidea). When it finally did sit down and I could confirm the identity I couldn't get anywhere near it for a photo (1994, SLR, no zoom).

Guy

[David M]

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be seduced by a photo of Green Veined Whites!

Excellent shot, Pete. That last one just about to land really caps it off.

[Pete Eeles]

Hungary - day 2

Thanks for the kind comments all - and for the guidance, Guy! Today was spent in the central Bukk Hills, visiting a couple of sites that gave us several new species for the day. The first site was along a woodland path that opened up into various quarries along the way. Here we managed to get several sightings including White-letter Hairstreak, Chequered Blue and Hungarian Glider (for Guy ).

White-letter Hairstreak

Chequered Blue

Hungarian Glider

We then moved onto another wooded area that led up to some meadows - and here we found the eris form of Niobe Fritillary that lacks the gold spangles on the underside, groups of Reverdin's Blue and Scarce Swallowtail, and a distant shot of a single Camberwell Beauty that looked very fresh indeed.

Niobe Fritillary f.eris

Reverdin's Blue

Scarce Swallowtail

Camberwell Beauty

And yesterday we visited a site for Pallas' Fritillary, but failed to see it. Anyway, we went for a walk along a path next to Farm Lator this evening, and managed to find 6 individuals of this very scarce species! Beginner's luck I guess

Pallas' Fritillary

The search for Fenton's Wood White continues ...

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Nice glider!

I'm not (necessarily ) questioning your judgment - but why do you say those are Reverdin's blues? They don't look remotely like Reverdin's to me (much more like silver-studs) and if you're right it means this group is far harder than I thought because they must be very different across their range.

The almost total lack of orange on the forewings, the shape of the black crescents and the size of the hindwing spots would rule out an ID of Reverdin's in Switzerland.

Guy

I'll remove this photo from your diary shortly - it's just to illustrate my query:


(Reverdin's blue male, Switzerland)

[Pete Eeles]

Hungary - day 3

Thanks Guy - now that I've looked more closely, I think you're absolutely right on the Reverdin's front Thanks for the ID pointers - and absolutely no need to delete your post!

Today was absolutely scorching and despite leaving Farm Lator at 0700, butterflies and other creatures were more than awake and very active, providing very few photo opportunities. Today we went copper-hunting, managing to find Scarce Copper, Purple-shot Copper and Large Copper (the last two being at the end of their flight period).

Scarce Copper

Purple-shot Copper

Large Copper (ovipositing female)

In the afternoon we stopped off at an Alcon Blue site, which are just emerging (although several Cross Gentian plants were splattered with eggs!).

Alcon Blue

Queen of Spain Fritillary

And to round off this post - a couple of photos of other wildlife; a Hawfinch feeding a fledgling (a shot from Chris Manley taking at 0500 this morning in the Farm Lator garden) and the amazing longhorn beetle Rosalia alpina.

Hawfinch

Rosalia alpina

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Hungary - day 4

A long and excellent day spent at Aggtelek National Park, first stopping off at Josvafo. This is an incredible site and the first thing that strikes you as you head up the village and into the woodlands beyond is the number of butterflies mud-puddling next to the stream that runs through the village. Two photos and a video of mud-puddling Scarce Swallowtail below.

Scarce Swallowtail

Berger's Clouded Yellow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW9CSzxGcIQ[/video]

Moving into the woodlands themselves, it wasn't long before we caught our first glimpse of a Lesser Purple Emperor. Then another. And another. We must have seen over 50 in total - some shots (and a video) below, including the clytie form of the male.

Lesser Purple Emperor f.clytie (male)

Lesser Purple Emperor (male)

Lesser Purple Emperor (male) underside

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBTh65xvEMY[/video]

And to finish the day off, we stopped off at another site in the park on the way back to Farm Lator, picking up several new species, including Short-tailed Blue.

Short-tailed Blue (female)

All in all - a most superb day!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pete,

I am really enjoying these posts, a bit of an antidote to the grey and miserable weather here.

All the best,

Neil F.

[Neil Hulme]

Great stuff Pete. We're all wishing we were there!
Neil

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Pete,

Glad you are having a great time.

Great stuff Pete. We're all wishing we were there!

You're not wrong there ...

Great pictures, particularly the mud puddling shots.

Keep them coming.

Kind regards. Mark

[Pete Eeles]

Hungary - day 5

Thanks for the comments all - although we're all feeling rather guilty that we're wilting in the heat here!

Today was a "quiet" day as far as butterflies were concerned, since we were focusing on birds. However, first thing this morning and last thing this evening brought out the usual suspects - some of which are shown below. Walking up the hill from Farm Lator was slightly bonkers and very reminiscent of a dream - where you're looking for every species on the British list! Within 100 yards I found a 20-strong colony of Duke of Burgundy, a Purple Emperor fly past, several White Admiral flitting about, stupid numbers of Purple Hairstreak and Silver-studded Blue, Wood White here and there, lots of Dark Green and High Brown Fritillary and the ever-present Heath Fritillary (possibly the commonest species we're encountering) - and of course, lots of Ringlet, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Green-veined White, Small Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Holly Blue, Silver-washed Fritillary and a whole lot more!

Not sure what we're doing tomorrow - but definitely not ready to come home just yet!

The ever-present Heath Fritillary

Purple Hairstreak - one of many

Spotted Fritillary

Map (and friend) - showing where this species gets its name from

Common Glider - very "common" around Farm Lator

Cheers,

- Pete

[millerd]

For me, that Spotted Fritillary is just beautiful. An unbeatable image.

Dave