Padfield

[NickB]

Good luck with the project, Guy. I'm sure you will entertain your readers with the same mixture of reason and wit that you bring to your audience here .
And I hope that you have scheduled-in some key times to devote to your butterfly exploits too - and to keep us informed.
Enjoy your year
N

[Neil Freeman]

Just to add my best wishes for your project Guy and to also hope that you continue to update your diary regularly so that we can all carry on with our mixed feelings of appreciation and envy

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Vince Massimo]

Good luck and best wishes Guy. (No nicking-off to go butterflying............... )

Regards,
Vince

[Padfield]

Thank you too, Wurzel, Nick, Neil and Vince. Your kind wishes all add to the imperative to get this book written!

My parents arrived this morning for their annual holiday. The weather has returned to aseasonal cold, with dense cloud and wind, but when I got home this evening after leaving them at their hotel the view across from my chalet was extraordinary. It was 21h15 and at sea level the disc of the sun was mostly below the horizon but here in the mountains it flung one last noose of light between the earth and the clouds to catch the hills opposite:



Guy

[Matsukaze]

Those photos of the lake bring back memories as I swam in it somewhere near that spot in the summer of 1976.

[Padfield]

I was sorely tempted to strip off and take a dip yesterday, Matsukaze! I've swum on the other side of the lake and it is really very pleasant.

Speaking of which, I photographed a rather fine red-crested pochard yesterday, swimming in the canal that runs parallel to the Rhône and also empties into the lake. This is a common duck in Switzerland but I always find it rather dramatic and exotic.



Guy

[Cotswold Cockney]

.
Next, up the hill to my Hungarian glider site - not that I expected to see any today, in this late year. Still the wind blew and most things stayed down, but I added small heath, wood white and another red admiral to the day list. The goatsbeard - the Hungarian glider foodplant - was not in evidence, or at least, not flowering, and after an hour I headed back down the hill again.
.

Hi Guy,

Lots more enjoyable reading. Thank you.

Never seen The Hungarian Glider [ Neptis rivularis ] on the wing in the wild but, have found the ova and larvae on two different foodplants; Astilbe and Spirea in the wild. I collected a dozen or so from both plants in the Hills on the Italian Swiss border back in 1981. There was an overgrown Quarry cut into a steep hillside and I must have located one hundred plus larva and ova on the masses of Spirea growing there. The ova look similar to 'our' White Admiral's and the larvae, like those of that butterfly, form a rib extension and/or tube at a leaf tip or edge where the spend much time and pass the winter in there just like our similar butterfly.

Both popular garden plants, there were both Spirea and Astilbe already growing in my garden back home and all the larvae passed our winter on these plants. I bought some potted plants and transferred the stock to these for added control of possible predators. Next Spring, a count of pupae showed 100% survival. One of the easiest butterflies I've ever raised. I have some 6 x 4 prints of the early stages and the adults I raised.

I had protected the plants from birds who would soon find the little larvae given half a chance. One female House Sparrow entered my large greenhouse one late winter and found a dozen hibernating Poplar Admiral ( Limenitis populi ) larvae in their leaf tubes on a potted Aspen I had at the time. It ate them all! When she was disturbed she panicked at flew fast into the glass and promptly broke her neck! Sod's Law on two counts!

One large Astilbe plant growing on a damp rock in the middle of a hillside steam had twenty ova and larvae on it. This was during late July and August and after the flight period of the adults. Good name rivularis ...

EDIT to add:~

Some years ago, after a tidy up in our garden, lots of leaves and old plants were taken to my little nature reserve and used as compost there. There is now a massive Spirea x-bumalda Anthony Waterer growing there now in full flower..

[Padfield]

Always good to hear from you, CC, and very interesting, as ever.

The foodplant at the site I know seems to be Aruncus dioicus, and though this is in Italy the Swiss books indicate that the butterfly is also invariably associated with this host in its Swiss outposts (mostly in the Tessin). It's particularly interesting that you found the eggs and larvae on other plants.

My parents are here for the next 10 days but your post has reminded me I should go looking for those beautiful gliders as soon as they leave!

Guy

[Cotswold Cockney]

Always good to hear from you, CC, and very interesting, as ever.

The foodplant at the site I know seems to be Aruncus dioicus, and though this is in Italy the Swiss books indicate that the butterfly is also invariably associated with this host in its Swiss outposts (mostly in the Tessin). It's particularly interesting that you found the eggs and larvae on other plants.

My parents are here for the next 10 days but your post has reminded me I should go looking for those beautiful gliders as soon as they leave!

Guy

That Goatsbeard looks superficially like Astilbe at first glance. I wonder if they are related. Some books also give Meadowsweet as a foodplant but my larvae did not want to know. Meadowsweet is a common plant locally again with a similar appearance and prone to grow in damp areas. I have fine specimens growing in my little reserve at the lowest point which is rather damp at times, so much so that no traction for the cars and once or twice I and friends have got stuck in their cars and had to be towed out.

I overwintered all my larvae on Spirea Anthony Waterer which is still available in most Garden Centres locally.

[Padfield]

All butterflies on hold for the time being! My parents arrived to cold and cloud and up the mountain today it was really quite bitter. Yesterday there was some sun but a strong wind was blowing and we did culture rather than braving the Alps. All these pictures were taken on my iPhone:


(My Dad, painting)


(Big thumbs up for my Mum)







Did I mention this was going to be a late year for butterflies in the mountains?

Guy

[Padfield]

After continuous rain yesterday the sun poked through a cloudy sky today. Almost nothing at all flew up the mountain so after I had left my parents recovering from their walk I nipped down to my woods to see what was happening there. In particular, I haven't given up on Tiberius and wanted to see if I could find his pupa (I haven't seen him since last November, when he went into hibernation, despite almost weekly searches). No luck, but to my indescribable joy, in another corner of the woods, I found TRAJAN! I didn't know him as egg or caterpillar but am delighted to have made his acquaintance at this late stage!





As you can see, he is in the shade, and as you can't see, there was a wind blowing. I will keep an eye on him over the next couple of weeks and hope to get better photos in better conditions.

I also saw my first ringlet and Essex skipper of the year - but it was Trajan who made my day!

Guy

[Cotswold Cockney]

Always hard to say from a two dimensional image, going strictly on the curvature of the abdominal segments, he might be a she ...

[Padfield]

Hi CC. I posted the same pictures on the Purple Empire blog and Matthew Oates agrees he is more probably a she.

Given this information, I have renamed her Plotina (Trajan's wife).

I very much hope that within two or three weeks I will be able to settle the issue definitively - but I have had a 100% failure rate with wild iris pupae to date so I'm not confident ...

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

No luck, but to my indescribable joy, in another corner of the woods, I found TRAJAN! I didn't know him as egg or caterpillar but am delighted to have made his acquaintance at this late stage!

That has to be one of the finds of the year - very few people have found a wild iris pupa to the best of my knowledge! Well done that man!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Thanks Pete! It is, indeed, a privilege and I am acutely aware of that!

Guy

[Padfield]

A better picture of Plotina (as she now calls herself) taken with flash. I won't take any more until she colours up.



Guy

[Pauline]

Great find and great photos Guy.

[Padfield]

Thanks Pauline - I'll keep you posted on Plotina!

I saw my parents off yesterday (in the rain) and set off this morning for the hills (in the rain). Luckily, the middle of the day was warm enough to bring out a good number of butterflies, though the constantly changing cloud made for difficult conditions:



The species list for the day was not huge but included interesting variety: Apollo, small white, mountain green-veined white, mountain dappled white, wood white, peak white, orange tip, Berger's pale clouded yellow, sooty copper, green hairstreak, large blue, little blue, common blue, Adonis blue, Amanda's blue, mazarine blue, Geranium argus, pearl-bordered fritillary, Peacock, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, Glanville fritillary, Asian fritillary, marbled white, alpine grayling, great sooty satyr, blind ringlet, alpine heath, small heath, northern wall, grizzled skipper, alpine grizzled skipper and dingy skipper.

Of these, the 'target' (more of a twitch, really, as I knew I would find it) was Asian fritillary. Here is a female:





She spent over two hours nectaring in one place, as if she had all the thyme in the world. I think she only moved on because a nordic walker zoomed past her. And this profile suggests she might be fattening herself up for a reason ...



This is a male, on a different patch of thyme:



And here is another male:



This peak white gives an idea of the changing conditions up there!



While I was watching the butterflies, I was being watched myself:



He really thought I couldn't see him:



After a while he and his friends decided I was safe, provided I kept my distance. Here is a long-shot:



Fans of little blues migt enjoy this video of a sizeable group of them (with mazarine blues, grizzled skippers and dingy skippers) being annoyed by ants:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWU8uYpCtrg[/video]

When I came back to the group later it had been joined by a geranium argus:



This picture shows a little blue (on the left) squaring up to a mazarine blue. It shows how deceptively similar they can be:



Here is the same mazarine blue proving his identity:



It would get very boring if I showed pictures of everything I saw, so just a couple more. The first is one of many green hairstreaks still active in the mountains:



Lastly, a lovely alpine grayling:



Maybe the season is going to catch up with itself now! The weather is set fair for the weekend.

Guy

[David M]

It would get very boring if I showed pictures of everything I saw...

Not for me it wouldn't.

Great return to your butterfly diary, Guy. I particularly like the shot of the Peak White.

[Pete Eeles]

She spent over two hours nectaring in one place, as if she had all the thyme in the world.

Very good

Great report as ever, Guy

Cheers,

- Pete