Padfield

[MikeOxon]

more of a twitch, really, as I knew I would find it

Have you really never 'dipped' on a twitch Guy?

Mike

[Wurzel]

Fantastic shots again Guy . If you know it's going to be there it's not really a twitch, I know having dipped many, many times over the years when I've gone to a "twitch" Let's see more especially the Blind Ringlet, Satyr and Sooty Coppers

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Paul Wetton]

Excellent shots G especially the female Asian Fritillary. Brings back some happy memories.

[Padfield]

Thank you for the comments, all, and apologies for my incorrect use of the word 'twitch'! I think what I meant was that instead of doing something useful, like searching for a new site for Asian fritillary, I simply went somewhere I knew I could get my yearly fix of this species.

Today I met up with Gary and Jane Hulbert, of UK Butterflies, who have been out here for ten days or so. I seduced them with offers of three species of 'Maculinea' (i.e., Phengaris), calling in at cranberry fritillaries on the way (those who have previously been out to see me will know where we went!).

We arrived at the cranberry bogs to find almost no butterflies at all. It looked as though we were too early in the day, so we enjoyed this female moorland clouded yellow (another cranberry feeder) and continued on our way:



Our next site, which is not particularly high, seemed very retarded in its development and initially it looked as if we might even dip out on the Maculinea - the greater burnet was standing low and immature in fields still dominated by bistort. In fact, the first butterfly we spotted (Gary spotted this one) was a female violet copper. We then saw a male nearby. They were both some distance away in a field cordoned off from public access but I took this very poor shot, on maximum zoom, of the male:



I'm sure Gary and Jane will have better. That was a surprise bonus for them!

Then Jane spotted what looked like a chimney sweeper moth in the distance, but which soon proved itself to be our first dusky large blue. It was a male but surprisingly it didn't look that fresh. It was wandering rather aimlessly across meadows without greater burnet, settling on all the wrong flowers but showing an interest in those that most resembled greater burnet:



Next we found our second target, scarce large blue. We went on to see a small handful of these and this is one from a little later in the walk:



Connoisseurs of these species will be aghast that neither is on a burnet flower. At another stage in the walk there were several duskies which were behaving more nomalously:



The third Maculinea came in the form of a mating pair of large blues:



In general, there were very few butterflies, despite the weather being perfect. I would have expected tit frits, niobe frits, high brown, silver-washed and pearl-bordered frits, but we saw just a handful of false heath and a single violet fritillary. There were also very few Erebia - just one bright-eyed ringlet confirmed and several other probable bright-eyeds drifting over inaccessible areas.

Blues were slightly more in evidence, with little blue, Osiris blue, mazarine blue, common blue and silver-studded all showing up:


(Osiris)


(dingy skipper with, from left to right, little blue, Osiris blue, mazarine blue)


(silver-studded blues enjoying an unsavoury meal)

As well as the violet coppers there were a fair few purple-edged coppers, male and female, and we saw a single sooty copper. Swallowtails drifted around, Berger's pale clouded yellows, orange tips, wood whites and green-veined whites were quite visible, there were plenty of chequered skippers and a few grizzlies, and large walls, small heaths and speckled woods represented the Satyrids. Oh - and there was a green hairstreak.

Here are Jane and Gary photographing those silver-studs:



We drove home via the cranberry fritillary site, where there was still nothing flying, though the day had been hot and it was still only about 16h30. Amazing. In 2011 I visited on 15th June and found them ...

Finally, they kindly drove home and to my local woods, so I could check on Plotina (I need to check every day until she colours up, as I have no idea when she pupated). There, we probably saw a couple of woodland browns, but neither came close. Ringlets and large walls were common and a couple of large skippers were enjoying the last of the sunshine.



It was an excellent day, and I was very glad to meet Gary and Jane. But what a strange year!

Guy

[Padfield]

My good friend Paul K, aka Reverdin, took a very long detour from his holiday in Italy with his son, Andy, to join me in CH today. I wasn’t quite sure what to tempt them with but in the end we opted for yellow-banded ringlet, which he has never seen. This was a long-shot, given the absurd lateness of this season, and it soon became apparent we were about a month too early, but we had a tremendous day at altitude, in the land of snow, all the same!

Here are Paul and Andy at the Simplon, where I met them (which is nowhere near where yellow-banded flies, I should say!):



We did see some good butterflies, if not our target. On the way, we dropped in at a Swiss Zephyr blue breeding site. The Zephyr blues were out in good numbers, both male and female:




(Male on the foodplant, milk vetch)

We picked up a stunned (road casualty) but still living rock grayling and put it on a flower in the shade in case it could recover:



Sadly, it was in the same position twenty minutes later and I suspect it was more than stunned, even though its appendages appeared undamaged. At the same site healthy rock graylings were flying and as we left we found this Escher’s blue:



The climb to the yellow-banded site was long and steep and made more difficult because of the snow. In several places there were snow slopes to be traversed and in some places snow to be climbed. All agreed it was well worth the effort.


(You can just make out Andy and Paul)


(OK - I did slightly angle the camera for effect...)

This lunch spot, at c. 2400m, was second to none.



Andy found a caterpillar there which I have since identified as Cynthia’s fritillary:





The slopes where I have seen yellow-banded ringlet before were either snow-covered or so recently thawed that the foodplant, sheep's fescue, hadn't yet started to push through, so I broke from the pack and climbed to the crest, from where I descended a little on the Italian side in lusher grass. Dewy ringlets were common (but impossible to approach, and I didn't try beyond a record shot) and peak whites were zooming all over the place.



Dusky grizzled skippers were very fresh. I photographed this one at nearly 2500m:



This one was a little lower down:



Dusky grizzled skipper is an instantly identifiable Pyrgus, from upperside or underside. The texture of the upperside is unique and unmistakable.

We all agreed this was a tremendous place to be, despite the lack of our target species. Here are a few photos from at or near the local high spot, at 2500m:






(We had climbed up from that road - and it did seem a long way down!)

And some other shots from the day:





For myself, I wasn't too disappointed to dip out on yellow-banded - I will come back in a month. But I was sad not to film Paul's amazing wipeout on a snow traverse on the way down. I could see something was going wrong, but instead of grabbing my camera and switching it to video I just stood and looked on with sympathetic, if slightly morbid, curiosity. He wasn't going to stay on his feet. He didn't. He began the descent, first on his back, then on his tummy, always holding his precious camera out of harm's way, until the friction of a kind of ski jump followed by bare ground finally brought him to a halt!

Luckily, both he and his camera were unharmed. This picture is all I have to show for the excitement - you will have to believe it is much steeper and longer than it looks when you point a camera down it!



The total butterfly list for the mountain bit of today's trip was very short: little blue, holly blue, dewy ringlet, peak white, mountain green-veined white, dusky grizzled skipper, alpine grizzled skipper ... er, that's it. But it really was a most enjoyable day. Here is Paul photographing his last butterfly for the day, a male mountain green-veined white:



And here is the butterfly in question:



Guy

[David M]

Amazing to see so much snow in July!! I'm glad I left my trip to the Austrian Alps till later this month now, where hopefully I'll be surrounded by similar stunning scenery.

[Roger Gibbons]

Same picture here, Guy. I am in the Queyras near the Italian border having spent a few days in the Clarée valley (north of Briancon) and at the Col de Vars. There is almost nothing flying here even at 2000m when last year on this same date – as Reverdin and Rogerdodge will remember – we had to avoid treading on Cynthia’s Fritillaries and Dewy Ringlets at 2500m (I exaggerate, but not by that much).

Only a couple of Mountain Dappled Whites were at 2500m plus Grizzled Skippers and Small Blues, these two being very hardy and exceptional survivors of almost any conditions.

At 2000m only Alpine Heaths are out in good numbers, Titania’s Fritillary now showing well, and yesterday I saw the first Glandon Blue and Eros Blue (both singles) of the year. Moorland Clouded Yellow seems to have emerged before Mountain Clouded Yellow. The only Erebia I have seen have been the usual Almond-eyed and a single De Prunner’s at 2300m.

I looked for Asian Fritillary (still on my life-tick list) in the Clarée valley but it was 9C at the location at 1900m, and this was only a few days ago, but absolutely nothing was flying above 1600m even in sunny spells. So, the greater my admiration for your terrific photos of this species. I suspect a rather large dam may not have been too far away.

Blues seem largely absent, save for Idas, Mazarine and Escher’s and what I am sure were a couple of Mountain Alcon Blues, at slightly lower altitudes here (around 1700m), but the high altitude specialists such as Eros and Glandon are almost nowhere to be seen. Whether they will come out in their usual numbers late or not at all, I don’t know. I have five days more in the Hautes Alpes, and it has been hot for the past few days, so maybe things will change. Certainly the latest (and worst) year I can recall, as you are finding, Guy.

[Cotswold Cockney]

Garden Observations ~ or more precisely, lack of them :~

Despite superb weather conditions over the past couple of days here in Gloucestershire, clear blue skies without any cloud, not seen a single Butterfly of any description through the garden or anywhere as I drive about. I suspect the six months of winter like conditions synchronised everything to emerge at the same time locally a few weeks back and that flush has now run its course so nothing for a while. The only wildlife seen in the garden is this nesting Ring Dove. The third nesting this pair in the garden so far including making a start in January. The previous nest in another part of my small back garden produced a single fledgling which was disturbed from the nest by next door's cat. I rescued the poor young bird and placed it up near its nest with the parents nearby. Did not know what happened to it until two weeks later, saw what was almost certainly the same young bird only a little larger on my garage roof. Spent half an hour there before flying off strongly when the two adults chased it away ...

The pair including the sitting bird seem oblivious to my family working in the garden very close by and my working on my hobby cars.

[Matsukaze]

Pigeons and doves can nest in extremely strange places. When the tube station at Canning Town was being built, there was a wood pigeon nest in the incomplete ticket hall. Lacking any trees in the vicinity from which to get nesting material, the birds resorted to using lengths of discarded wire cabling, resulting in a highly colourful nest.

At Burnham-on-Sea this year we were filling up with petrol only to find we were being watched by a nesting collared dove, which had constructed its nest in the gap between the CCTV camera and the petrol station roof, presumably so that it could monitor its surroundings better.

[Padfield]

Yes, I'm aware it's not only in my region that this spring messed up the phenologies! And I'm also sure it's happened many, many times before since the last Ice Age and that the butterflies will get through it. Perhaps the worst thing is the suffering I know last winter caused to many birds and mammals. Roe deer in particular had a very high mortality here because of the great difficulty finding food, and spring migrants arrived after exhausting flights to find no insects to eat.

Tomorrow, on a whim (inspired by Paul's adventures in Italy), I'm going to explore a part of Switzerland I've never been before in the hope of finding Thor's fritillary. I've done some research and checked out areas on Google Maps, so now comes the groundwork. It will probably take more than one or two trips to locate this rare and local butterfly but I will find it in the end!

Guy

[Padfield]

The (Norse) gods were with me today. I got up at 06h00 spurred by little more than an outside chance of seeing Thor’s fritillary and by 10h30 had already found a vibrant colony.

In the Alps, Boloria thore is a scarce and local butterfly of woodland glades between 800m and the treeline (it is commoner in Scandinavia, apparently). I had planned a cycle route up an alpine valley in a known area and checked out every likely glade as I climbed. The first fritillary I saw was small and dark so I ran after it, but I knew all along it was false heath - a generally common butterfly throughout the day. Next, I found several pearl-bordered frits, indicating I was at least in a violet region. Then, just after I had pointlessly run after a particularly dark pearl-bordered the real thing flew past and soon settled:





The habitat:



Thore exceeded all my expectations. It is a large fritillary - noticeably bigger than pearl-bordered - and flies much more floppily, almost like a Satyrid. As a rule it seemed to favour low flowers and skulked around rather low in the vegetation (hence no decent 'Padfield' shots!) but despite its dark colour it was quite willing to open its wings in the sun. I saw three or four at this first site and when I had adequate photos set off again to explore other sites. As I continued up the hill (a dirt track, not a road), I saw individuals at two more sites, but they were obviously in transit and I didn't see any stop. After going as high as I thought useful I turned round and headed back down, stopping again at my first site. There, it was still easy to find thore, though now it showed a distinct predilection for the shade.



Following a nearby track I then found even more thore, bringing me to a day total of about a dozen. These included a female ovipositing - though in all my pictures she must be oviposturing as she is on the wrong plants.





The habitat where she was laying:



This is one of very few males I saw:



I would have stayed there for hours but the forecast was for rain and possibly storms and the clouds and wind were already building up by 14h00.

The rain began while I was having a celebratory beer, waiting for the train, and before I got home the first lightning bolts cut the sky. A particularly violent thunder crash hit at Aigle station, reminding me that this was truly Thor’s day!

Here are a few more piccies. Sorry to be a thore bore - but I'm sure there are some forum members who would be interested in this species (though it's doubtless a commonplace butterfly for JKT and the Finnish brigade!).









Guy

[Reverdin]

OK Guy, I think your photos must have been photoshopped in order to produce that huge fat chap - and I remember all those slopes were steeper, and Eddie the Eagle had nothing on my attempt to fly!

For all your avid readers, me of course included, here is my rarest find of that day, wild in it's own habitat and free as the wind....

and in case you wondered, here is my only thore...

Really pleased you obviously found more.... isn't it a magnificent creature!

[Padfield]

Yes, I photoshopped those piccies, Paul ... And thanks for the piccies of me, searching vainly for flavo!

I was going to look for emperors and admirals near Geneva today and it was only your text, saying you had come across thore, that gave me the idea of going for that species. There aren't many Swiss butterflies I've yet to see (nivalis, styx, sudetica, asteria) and I think I'll try and pick off a few more this summer!

G

[Cotswold Cockney]

Amazing to see so much snow in July!! I'm glad I left my trip to the Austrian Alps till later this month now, where hopefully I'll be surrounded by similar stunning scenery.

In July-August 1981 when I was last in the area, we set up tent and camp on a hot late summer evening and then turned in very tired after trekking those hills, valleys and mountains. A good fry-up went down well too ...

Awoke next morning with four inches of overnight snow. Never had a clue, nice and warm tucked up in my tent. To see the two Apollo species flying over the snow was a delight I'll never forget. I also took a long drink from a mountain stream as although I was the youngest and fittest member of the party, all that rushing about in the heat meant I soon became dehydrated. That simple drink of near freezing cold water from the snows nearby was the most refreshing drink I've ever experienced.

[David M]

Lifers must be quite rare for you, Guy, so I daresay the joy is more amplified as a consequence.

Lovely photos of a most interesting butterfly. Well done indeed. Once again your perseverence paid off.

[Padfield]

I do appreciate your comments, David.

I get lifers every year but Swiss lifers really have a premium for me and I have long wanted to see thore. There are very ancient records (1893) for much closer to where I live but until I had a feel for the habitat I didn't really know how to go about looking for it. For yesterday's butterflies, I knew they had been seen in the 5km square in 2011, so I could search with more confidence. Or, I could have e-mailed the Swiss recorder and asked for the exact grid reference, but it's much more fun doing it the hard way!

I think you have timed your trip well! There should be much more flying by then than there is now (though I did hear from the recorder that he saw a few Rätzer's ringlets on Saturday ... I had assumed it would be too early for that, as it was for yellow-banded).

I was so pleased with thore I didn't mention anything else flying yesterday. One interesting species was bright-eyed ringlet, which shows an extremely dark form, lugens, in some parts of the Alps. The visible partner in this mating pair is the female, who has lovely bright eyes:



But some of the males are virtually unmarked. This one was messing about on the track:





Nothing very 'bright-eyed' about that! I think I've got the ID right but several species have these very dark forms and it can be difficult. I've seen manto ringlets in the Alps very similar to the form constans of the Pyrenees.

A few large ringlets were also flying, though in general Erebia is not strong this year.

Here is a geranium argus, perched characteristically on Geranium sylvaticum. As Tolman notes, this flower is also associated with thore, which loves to nectar from it, though rarely stays long enough for a photo!



I'm taking a day off today, to get the house in order! It's going to be more or less sunny for the rest of the week, so I hope I'll be posting some more exotica soon!

Guy

[Padfield]

Well - this probably isn't exotic for you, but it is for me! I popped down to my local woods to see if white-letter hairstreaks or white admirals were flying yet (no and no) and as I cycled back up the hill I found a female black hairstreak just on the edge of the road, next to the verge. There are no records, recent or historic, of black hairstreak for this region (nearest historic record: 1908, Ollon). I think this female might have arrived here in the radiator of a car, or something similar, but she was very much alive and I don't think she had travelled far:





I picked her up and carried her to the only blackthorn I know of in the whole area, where I find brown hairstreak eggs and larvae every year. She sat motionless as I carried her (I didn't have my net or observation box with me, so she rode in the palm of my hand!) but showed great pleasure to arrive at the blackthorn:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsqfad5ux9Y[/video]

I felt very sorry for her, but she is something of a scoop!

Guy

[David M]

That insect may have suffered prior misfortune, but it had the almost unearthly GOOD fortune to have you find her. Not only did you care sufficiently to pick her up, but you're probably one of the few people in the country that would have even KNOWN where best to take her, much less actually do so.

Heartwarming story, and your reward?.......a new little colony next year would be nice!

[Padfield]

It was a most fortunate encounter for both of us, David! In fact, if I had even simply transferred her to a flower by the road she would almost certainly be dead by now because a couple of hours after I moved her the heavens opened, the streets turned into rivers and Thor started chucking things about again!! In the blackthorn bush she will have been able to find some shelter.

Don't forget your wet-weather gear when you go to Austria, David! The weather is really most unsettled this year ...

I told the Swiss butterfly recorder about the black hairstreak and he mentioned that he had discovered Ilex hairstreak last year in the same larger region - a rediscovery after a long absence. So maybe Satyrium is on the move ...


Guy

[P.J.Underwood]

Guy,
I read your recent Swiss adventures with interest,as I was not too far away at Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland.I came across this fritillary without any effort,I believe it is a Thor.I would be grateful for your view.
P.J.U.