Goldie M

[Pete Eeles]

I believe it to actually be the female carrying out a rejection display to the male

I may be wrong - but isn't the male on the left (with its sex brands visible) displaying to the female? In other words, I can't see any rejection going on there. From the species page:

"The male flies up to investigate any passing object and, if he encounters a female, the two will land on the ground. The male lands immediately behind her before moving around to face her head on. An unreceptive female will flutter her wings while a virgin female will remain still, encouraging the male to perform an elaborate courtship. He starts by flicking his wings upward to reveal the orange patches found on the underside of the forewings. He then flicks his wings open and shut for a short time before bowing to the female and slowly bringing his wings together, when the female's antennae are brought together over the sex brands found on the male's forewings, as the male returns to an upright position. The scent scales from the sex brands allows the male to seduce the female, allowing him to move behind the female who is then mated.".

Edit: Definitely not sure about this! I think Vince might be right looking more closely at the wing patterns!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Goldie M]

I've got a few more shots that may give us some clues, I just thought it was a male going through is courtship routine Goldie

[Padfield]

Pauline recently got upperside shots of graylings and recorded the mating afterwards. My recent observations of hermits (which sadly didn't produce any upperside photos) suggested that coupling is preceded by the two butterflies sitting face to face, almost intertwining their antennae, and some of Goldie's shots do show this positioning, though we don't know how long it lasted. For me, the jury's out on whether this shows mutual attraction or just a male trying his luck.

Yes, Goldie - you have certainly had your share of luck this year. But luck is something you make and I don't think it runs out! It's down to your being observant and catching the moment! I'm sure you'll have plenty more.

Guy

[Vince Massimo]

Sorry to hijack your diary Goldie, but this is for science

My reasoning is that both the wing colouration and abdominal size/shape indicate female and I cannot detect anything that look like male sex brands. They are supposed to be across the leading edge of the forewing, although I'm still unclear as to their actual appearance. In any event, the illustrations in Thomas/Lewington show the male having broad dark patches on the front of the forewing, which I am not seeing here. The individual shown here also seems to correspond very well to the confirmed female upperside images housed in the Species Identification section.

Just one word of caution..........
Exactly the same illustrations are shown in Tolman, but the sex notations have been transposed

Do we have any Grayling experts out there?

Vince

[Padfield]

I must admit, I hadn't turned back to look at Goldie's original photos when I posted and took Pete's word that a male was displaying there. However, I agree with Vince that all the open-winged shots show females. The male sex brand is along the lower edge of the cell, in much the same position as in wall, and is easily visible (in males!).

Guy

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
I have no doubts at all in siding with Vince on this one. That's definitely the male on the right (original shot in question) and the female is rejecting him. It would be very rare indeed if an old girl like that was about to be mated (not just wooed) for a second time - and she's been around the block!
Neil

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks all. I suppose my confusion is that I've rarely seen Grayling upperside, let alone had a chance to study the markings (other than from books). And I've only seen the courtship ritual once in my whole life! It's therefore less obvious to me which sex is which based on a still. But now I feel I'm "in the know"; what a great website

Cheers,

- Pete

[Goldie M]

I second that Pete, it is a great web site. I think your theory of the female rejecting the Male could certainly be right Vince.
Although like I said, I thought it was a male wooing the Female, I couldn't tell the the differance between the two, I'm learning quickly though I think Sussex Skipper is right and she'd just mated. because when we got there another Grayling
wasn't far away from her, I did take a photo of him, I must confess I was more interested in the Grayling with the open wings and when I saw the other one with her I jumped to conclusions ,they were mating. We didn't see them mating so I suppose thats another hint.
Thanks also Guy for your comments, I've been lucky so far and I hope your right and I do find more interesting Butterflies
I've included the shot of the lone Male, I wish I'd got there abit sooner to see him perform

Sat and Sunday were also good days for me it was the first time I'd had a Gate Keeper in my Garden both front and back Gardens, and a Speckled Wood arrived . Also my First of Summer Peacock arrived just before the Rain on Sunday morning so I'm looking forward now to the arrival of the Red Admiral and Tortoiseshell lets hope we get more Sunshine Goldie
Hope the one in the shot is Male Still i'm Learning Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Goldie,

An excellent series of Grayling photos, well done,

All the best,

Neil F.

[Goldie M]

Thanks very much Neil, I've enjoyed all the comments, and the Praise Goldie

[Goldie M]

Well this week I've not strayed very far from my garden, it really needed tidying up and i'm glad I didn't. For the first time I've seen a Gate Keeper in both the Front and the Back garden. Then the Peacocks arrived followed by Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, (one in particular who's living at the bottom of the back garden and I see every day, when it's fine that is.)
I know it's the same one, it has the same missing part of wing. It's a welcome sight I love watching it. I've also had some Green Veined Whites and Small Whites. So I feel I've missed nothing while doing my chores
I did pay a visit across the way to Hall-Lee-Brook just to see what was there if any thing. The place is really coming on Peacocks were there also GK , I've not seen any Painted Ladies so far this year around my area or Red Admiral's which is unusual, this time last year in my garden they were plentiful, I wonder if it's just around here there scarce, I was taking shots of them well into October last year. Anyway I thought I'd put a few Photo's in My Diary of my visitors Goldie

[Goldie M]

Yesterday Morning was miserable the afternoon turned out to be great though. I was in the Garden again messing about and talking with my neighbour who has a lovely budliea bush. I've got a couple but not the colour of her's. I was telling her this when the Peacocks arrived on her bush ,the flowers are so long on the bush that at one point there were five Peacocks there.
I ran in for my Camera and took a couple of shots but only two remained by then on one flower. The peacocks were every where. I've had some on my bushes but not to that extent.
Her bush is almost blueish , I've looked every where for a similar tye but can't find one and I don't know what it's called, my neighbour doesn't either, her husband put it in and he passed away ages ago. She said she gets loads of pleasure just watching the BF and I can go in anytime and take Shots. (It's not like having your own bush though is it ) Any way I've put the shots up to see if any one knows what it's called. Goldie

[Goldie M]

Tuesday of this week I went to Sefton Dunes , the weather was great so we took a picnic. After lunch we went onto the board walk then into the Dunes the first thing we saw was this lovely female Common Blue which I thought at the time was a Male. After reading what Vince had to say about CB I'm thrilled to have found one like her. also got a side view of her.
I then took this shot of a Peacock . At first I thought he was damaged on a closer look I'm not sure , I think maybe his colours have some how gone wrong. Then I found these, what I think could be Pupa but I don't really know , they certainly look like some thing is trying to get out of them. It was Quite an interesting afternoon . We also saw Small Tortoiseshell's Grayling and Small Copper and Six Spot Burnett. Goldie

[Vince Massimo]

Tuesday of this week I went to Sefton Dunes , the weather was great so we took a picnic. After lunch we went onto the board walk then into the Dunes the first thing we saw was this lovely female Common Blue which I thought at the time was a Male. After reading what Vince had to say about CB I'm thrilled to have found one like her. also got a side view of her.
I then took this shot of a Peacock . At first I thought he was damaged on a closer look I'm not sure , I think maybe his colours have some how gone wrong. Then I found these, what I think could be Pupa but I don't really know , they certainly look like some thing is trying to get out of them. It was Quite an interesting afternoon . We also saw Small Tortoiseshell's Grayling and Small Copper and Six Spot Burnett. Goldie

Hi Goldie,

That's a very striking Common Blue female . The cocoons you found belong to the Burnet moths. The Burnet caterpillar spins this shelter before pupating inside. What you can also see in some of them is the thin pupal case left by the moth as it emerged.

Vince

[Goldie M]

Thanks Vince, I wish I'd stayed there longer to watch but we had to try and miss the home rush on the motor way. What did you think about the Peacock? Is it just damaged? Goldie

[Vince Massimo]

..... What did you think about the Peacock? Is it just damaged? Goldie

Hi Goldie,

The damage is very localised and the rest of the individual looks very fresh. My view is that it probably suffered some sort of problem while hatching. During the pupal stage, the upper surface of the forewing is in direct contact with the inner surface of the pupal case and it may not have seperated cleanly as the adult emerged, causing a lot of the wing scales to rub off.

The development of the pupa and hatching sequence is shown here viewtopic.php?f=37&t=6485

Vince

[Goldie M]

Thanks once again Vince, I think your report sorts things out for me. It's a great report.
The nearest I came to watching a Butterfly coming through this stage was when some Painted Ladies were bought for me.
I watched them every day from a very small Caterpillar to becoming Butterflies and it was amazing. I was very reluctant to let them go The Peacock I took a photo of was very quick so obviously it had no effect on him at all I hope to see some Red Admirals around here shortly or I'll be very worried, last year they were every where, I've not seen one this year around here, In fact I've seen only one all year and that was in Blean Woods Kent. Thanks again Vince Goldie

[Goldie M]

On Monday Sept 3rd I was at Birkdale Sands Southport,( Dunes ) I was amazed at the amount of Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks I saw, too many to count and not forgetting my one and only Grayling Since than I've needed to go no where has my Back Gardens been full of Butterflies, mostly Peacocks and STS, but also I got a shot at last of a Red Admiral so maybe it's their turn to arrive on the scene, I do hope so.
Yesterday I took a photo of an Holly Blue in the garden, I was suprised at it's size. I've taken shots before but I don't remember them being so small, I compared it to a Bee that was on the same flower and the Bee seems bigger than the Butterfly, Maybe it's just me , The weather as to turn bad tomorrow, (colder) I supose thats just for the North again
anyway than goodness for a lovely week. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Great shots Goldie and that Holly Blue does seem small compared to the bumble bee, could that be something to do with it's gender?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzal, thanks for the compliment, I'm not too good at telling Male from Female unless their a differant colour
How ever I took other shots of it so maybe you can tell from them Goldie