![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
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
Hi Guy,padfield wrote: .
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.
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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.padfield wrote: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 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!padfield wrote: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!
Not for me it wouldn't.padfield wrote: It would get very boring if I showed pictures of everything I saw...
padfield wrote:She spent over two hours nectaring in one place, as if she had all the thyme in the world.