Padfield

[Padfield]

Thanks Chris. Agrypnus murinus looks perfect - so it is that or something closely related. My beetle book is in England. Many photos on the web show the same behaviour, climbing to the top of a grass stem or other plant.

Guy

[ChrisC]

You made me get off my backside

"Agrypnus murinus. The sole central European member of this genus" reference: The field guide in colour to Beetles by K.W. Harde

Chris

[Padfield]

Thanks again, Chris. That's the same book I have back home - I really must bring it out here so I don't keep having to ask everyone about beetles!

Guy

[Padfield]

My target today was the mountain dappled white, Euchloe simplonia, one of the earlier mountain species and something I completely missed last year. It is quite widespread in the Alps but often in rather inaccessible places as its foodplant (Erucastrum nasturtiifolium) seems to grow best on steep slopes where the soil frequently slips. My 'tick' site is a roughly 3km stretch of mountain lane where this plant is common right next to the road.



I arrived at the bottom of the site shortly after 10h00, having cycled 14km already - so hoping for a quick fix! It was not to be. The sun almost showed but it was cold and nothing at all was on the wing. I cycled slowly to the top of the stretch, and then on to an alpine meadow where many blues, as well as Dukes, normally fly. On the way I examined a few plants and found this single simplonia egg, showing the butterflies were on the wing, if not visible:





Over the meadow the clouds glowered and it seemed the day would be fruitless, at least from the butterfly point of view. In the absence of any leps, I decided to continue my occasional photo series, Fine English Ales at Altitude:



Normally, I try to buy local, but I make an exception for beer.

For very short periods, the sun did try to show and every time it did it seemed to get a little warmer. A green underside blue moved into position while the sky was still cloudy, then a Chapman's blue actually took to the wing, followed by an impressively dark female green-veined white:


(Chapman's blue, Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) thersites)



Eventually, I conceded defeat and cycled down to the bottom of the hill, whereupon the sun immediately (sort of) shone. A few more whites came out, including several wood whites, some small whites and an orange tip, and a couple of scarce swallowtails started nectaring on the blackthorn:







SO - I turned round and cycled straight back up the hill.

Cloud.

Down the hill.

Sun.

Up the hill.

Cloud ...

On my third descent, despite the cloud, I saw a single simplonia zooming from hostplant to hostplant.

On my fourth and final descent, at about 13h30, a second simplonia stopped very briefly for me (cloudy at the time) and a third posed a little longer shortly afterwards:


(the first individual to stop)


(the next individual, identifiable by a long hairline tear in the forewing)



That was that. Not the long reacquaintance I had hoped for but nice to see these butterflies again anyway.

Before the sun disappeared definitively, a few more blues showed up, including Adonis, holly, little and Provençal short-tailed. Here is a male holly blue opening his wings during a cloudy moment:



And here is an Adonis blue, taken immediately afterwards:



It then began raining and continued raining for the whole cycle ride back down to the valley. There was no point in heading anywhere else, as the bad weather had really set in, so I caught the first train home. There would have been a long wait at Aigle for the bus, so I continued on to Montreux to enjoy a short cycle ride along the lake.





Butterflying is very hard work this summer! But today patience paid off and demonstrated that even on days we might consider write-offs from the point of view of butterfly-watching the butterflies themselves simply wait their moment and then fly and do all their necessary business!

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

I decided to continue my occasional photo series, Fine English Ales at Altitude

But today patience paid off and demonstrated that even on days we might consider write-offs from the point of view of butterfly-watching the butterflies themselves simply wait their moment and then fly and do all their necessary business!

Funny how those that make the effort to get out, whatever the weather, seem to get the best photos Excellent shots as ever, Guy - thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Thanks Pete.

I'm sure more butterflies are recorded in years when the fine weather falls at weekends. This year has been disastrous from that point of view: lots of warm Wednesdays but very few sunny Saturdays ...

Guy

[MikeOxon]

SO - I turned round and cycled straight back up the hill.

Cloud.

Down the hill.

Sun.

Up the hill.

Cloud ...

Masochist! Still, you got some good rewards - splendid selection of photos. Also, a good job you were supplied with English beer for fuel.

It seems you have weather similar to here in Oxon. It is pouring with rain at the moment but 5 minutes ago was bright sunshine. Too cool for butterflies, unfortunately.

Mike

[Jack Harrison]

Greene King. That's real beer. In Scotland all we can get is "Heavy" or "80 shillings" or similar undrinkable beverages. One pub here in Tobermory occasionally has so-called "real ale" but only in the tourist season. I was well aware when I decided to move to the Isle of Mull that it rains a great deal and the beer is rubbish. I have easily adapted to the former, but....

Jack

[NickMorgan]

Wow, what a wonderful selection of butterflies. I am really jealous!! Any butterflies would be nice just now!
(I'll ignore Jack's comments on Scottish beer!)

[Padfield]

Thanks all! Yes Mike - we're enjoying English weather here at the moment.

I don't know anything about Scottish beers so I'll sidestep that one! I'm fortunate that the two main supermarkets in Villars, where I work, seem to have begun competing for English clients. One started by selling St. Peter's ales at CHF 4.90 a bottle and now the other has undercut that with Greene King at CHF 3.80. Cans of Fuller's and Boddington's are also available up here as a cheaper substitute when times are lean or the thirst is great. All this is quite new - I used to have to go a long way to stock up.

Guy

[NickB]

Glad to hear you are flying around again on the bike.
You certainly earned the beer! I like the idea of English Beers at Altitude; I'm sure Jack would really appreciate such a series, too
Look forward to more pictures & reports....

[David M]

In the absence of any leps, I decided to continue my occasional photo series, Fine English Ales at Altitude

Legendary stuff, Guy.

If that isn't a perfect handle for 1m+ Facebook 'likes' then my name's Pete Eeles!

BTW, everyone who's commented is right - getting out on those days where there seems little point is often the time when you get to see things out of the ordinary.

Butterflies behave quite abnormally in extreme conditions, and few people will be out there observing them doing so.....ergo, huge potential rewards for those who see things from a different perspective and go out anyway...

[essexbuzzard]

East Anglia's finest,up a mountain in CH?

Think you could get a job in their marketing department Guy!

[Wurzel]

The Dappled shots are brill I always get a bit of a buzz when I see a new species or even just when I see a first for the year - so you must be buzzing all the time Guy!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

ps will we be seeing a beer from Badger up a mountain, or have I missed that already?

[Neil Freeman]

Great report and Photos Guy

Every time I read one of your posts I feel the temptation to up sticks and move south.

Keep up the good work,

Neil F.

[Padfield]

Thanks again for your comments. I really do appreciate the interest shown in my diary and hope it compensates for the occasional confessions of jealousy in the responses! The Alps are a very special region and I am aware I am privileged to live here.

I've never seen Badger on sale out here but if I do come across it I'll make sure a bottle or two gets drunk at some suitably picturesque location, Wurzel!

Guy

[Padfield]

We're locked in a cold spell at the moment, with fresh snow not far above Villars and generally poor weather forecast to beyond next weekend.

I popped out this evening to identify the plant I had seen a female orange tip laying on a couple of weeks ago: it is hairy rockcress, Arabis hirsuta (agg.). Here are the pictures again:





Both Lafranchis and UK Butterflies ( ) mention hirsuta as a favoured host-plant for orange tips, though most books seem to omit it. There was plenty of garlic mustard on the other side of the road, so this was clearly an active choice.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

hairy rockcress, Arabis hirsuta

Now you have jogged my memory. That is a favourite foodplant in Breckland where I have seen OTs laying on it in very open sandy areas – but I guess it’s too dry for the more usual foodplants to thrive there. I too had to consult a plant guide to identify.

Here on Mull, Cuckoo Flower is extremely abundant (due no doubt to high rainfall) even on the smallest of roadside verges in town. Pity that Orange Tips don’t seem to appreciate this: I’ve yet to see one here.

Jack

[Padfield]

Thank you for that, Jack. I must say, I hadn't realised how many different foodplants orange tips used until I started researching this flower.

Today, a fruitless after-school search for iris and betulae cats was compensated by an encounter with a wood white that had clearly overdone the pheromone spray.

Here she is (I'm assuming this is a female, from the response of other butterflies) looking all innocent on forget-me-nots by a woodland track:



While I was crouched down, another wood white tried his luck:



And not wishing to miss out on the action, a passing orange tip flashed his funky stuff at her too:



She was quite unmoved by it all!


(actually, that is her before the orange tip came, but I preferred it to the ones afterwards)

Guy

[NickMorgan]

Fantastic pictures, Guy. I particularly like the one with the orange tip captured in mid-flight.