January 2013

[David M]

May be butterfly weather by Sunday. Temperatures set to hit double figures again in certain parts.

[Cotswold Cockney]

No butterflies but this afternoon it was warm enough in Sidmouth, Devon for a couple of flies to be sunning themselves

Here in Glorious Gloucestershire we had a pleasant period of low winter sunshine in mid afternoon. I noticed two or three of those apparently same species of "Bluebottle" Flies about my patio as I did some work on my cars. First time i was able to make some progress outside for about a week now.

As a pre-school boy, both my parents referred to those flies as Bluebottles. Shades of the Goon Show but, that name my parents used pre-dated the Goons by several years ...

[badgerbob]

With the sun shining this afternoon and much milder temperatures I called on High and Over on the off chance of finding Wall Brown larvae. After 20 minutes of searching I was very surprised to find 2 of them feeding. Each one was about 1.5 cm long. They were both close together and only about 2 ft from where I found one last year.

[Pete Eeles]

Excellent find (again!) Bob. How exposed were they; I've only ever seen Satyrid larvae up the grass stem when it's dark (using a torch)?!

Cheers,

- Pete

[badgerbob]

Hi Pete. Thanks for the message. I had started to hunt for them by gently moving the grass apart. However, the two I found were about 3 inches up the brown grass stems they are pictured on and I spotted them as they sat there. The surrounding grass was about 5 inches tall, both green and brown. They were actually quite easy to see despite them being so much smaller than the ones I found last year, which was in March so obviously older!! It was through looking at the Thomas/Lewington book that last year led me to the likely area and it also says that the wall larvae come out to feed on mild days. The site is in full sunshine and protected from the breeze which also helps.
Regards.
Bob.

[Cotswold Cockney]

.
The site is in full sunshine and protected from the breeze which also helps.

Regards.
Bob.

Ahah ... a micro micro-habitat... Time and again I'm amazed how insects can successfully seek out those more favourable micro sites.
.

[David M]

Remarkable footage that, Bob, given the fact that it's still January.

Larvae are hard enough to find in July!

[Cotswold Cockney]

Remarkable footage that, Bob, given the fact that it's still January.

Larvae are hard enough to find in July!

Evidence that you can successfully observe butterflies in the dead of the UK winter. Now search the January Sallows for hibernating A.iris larvae. Easier to spot with no leaves on the shrubs ... As well as the often favourite choice of a fork in the twigs, many prefer the rougher areas of bark as in this compilations of several prints :~

[badgerbob]

Another trip up there today I got a shot of the larva in the undergrowth to give an idea of the terrain as well as the area it was in!!

[Vince Massimo]

Showing the larva in context with its habitat was a great idea Bob and I think the Species-Specific Albums could benefit from similar images of other species.

I have also sent you a PM.

Vince

[Jack Harrison]

Bob. Some of the best postings for a long time. But how are you so convinced it's Wall Brown and not Speckled Wood? I have bred both and the larvae are almost indistinguishable.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Bob. Some of the best postings for a long time. But how are you so convinced it's Wall Brown and not Speckled Wood? I have bred both and the larvae are almost indistinguishable.

Jack

That's a very good question, Jack, and one I asked myself when looking at Bob's images. Aside from the paler green of the Wall larva (that Bob's images exhibit), and after looking at several photos on the web, I concluded that the placement of the most significant stripe on the side of the larva is an indicator. In the Wall, the spiracles are above this line (indicating a line much lower on the side the larva, and as shown in Bob's images) and below this line on the Speckled Wood.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Gibster]

Hurrah, I have a Janaury sighting! Barely...

One single solitary Purple Hairstreak egg found during 15mins fairly intensive searching of a large oak tree. In previous years I've found several on this particular tree in a matter of minutes, so this does not bode well. I assume Purple Hairstreaks had a poor season thanks to last year's excuse of a summer, so productivity could be expected to be lower than is usual. Combine that with the marauding flocks of hungry Long-tailed Tits (well known to eat butterfly eggs when the winter weather is harsh) and I can see why I had trouble finding any at all!

Have to agree that "habitat shots" would be a very welcome addition to the site. Pete, how is it that you haven't thought of that before?

Cheers,

Gibster.

[badgerbob]

Pete, Vince and Jack. Many thanks for your comments and interest in my posts. I agree Jack that both species are very similar but going by the Thomas/ Lewington book the side stripe is much more pronounced in the wall whereas the speckled has a more pronounced stripe near the top which these do not have. Also the larva are all in grasses above rough broken ground with the grass roots exposed beneath the grass. This is a favoured egg laying type of area where the wall lays on the roots of the grass and the young larva crawls upto the grass. Having said that the main reason is that I have found many wall freshly hatched on this bank as well as the pupa I found last year. Although there are speckled woods nearby there are possibly 10 times as many wall here and it is probably one of the top sites in the UK to see this species.

[Pete Eeles]

Hurrah, I have a Janaury sighting! Barely...One single solitary Purple Hairstreak egg.

Well done that man. That's one more than me

Have to agree that "habitat shots" would be a very welcome addition to the site. Pete, how is it that you haven't thought of that before?

Agreed - this would make a nice addition to the Habitat section associated with each species. Will think about this, given that several species would use the same habitat. And thoughts most welcome!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Matsukaze]

Hi Pete,

As it's a larval habitat (microhabitat?) would this particular image be better off in the description of the larva?

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Pete,

As it's a larval habitat (microhabitat?) would this particular image be better off in the description of the larva?

It would indeed! Good thinking, especially since "habitat" could (and probably will) vary between stages for the same species.

Cheers,

- Pete