Padfield

[Padfield]

I arrived back on Sunday to a chilly Switzerland, after two weeks in the UK. Much of this time was spent in London but I also enjoyed clouded yellows, blues, coppers and graylings on the Suffolk coast.

This was the scene from my chalet yesterday:



I guess that will have been a shock to the high mountain butterflies...

This afternoon, however, the sun came out for a brief period and at about 15h00 I set off in search of long-tailed blues. While everyone in England was seeing these (or so it seemed) they had eluded me out here, even in sites where they are usually reliable. Today it seemed the pattern would continue, as my local 'tails' site had loads of Adonis blues, a few common blues, a couple of brown arguses but apparently no other Lycaenids. Then, shortly before the clouds and rain reappeared, I spotted a couple of tiny blues disappearing vertically into the sky, locked in combat. Only long-tailed blues do that. One of them then descended nearby, half-heartedly posed as if defending a territory, and then began nectaring avidly:







When the clouds completely covered the sky he repaired to a leaf and I headed home, as I could see heavy rain coming:



Guy

[David M]

Are those snow-clad conditions normal in the middle of September, Guy?

[Padfield]

It's not unusual, David. The snow line goes up and down between September and November and there are usually a few fluffy, white mornings in October even at my altitude (1000m). My rule of thumb is that any snow falling before 15th November will disappear but any after that is the real deal!

Guy

[Padfield]

I worked all morning but headed out in the afternoon to check up on the cardinal site and then go further along the valley to see what was still flying. In a brief half hour I found a female cardinal, avidly nectaring on one of the few remaining Buddleias that still had reasonable flowers. Most of the others were covered in dead, brown heads. The days are cooler now and she was between me and the sun, flat on to the rays, so I only really saw her underside - but it was wonderful to be back watching what is pretty well Switzerland's rarest butterfly. Despite the angle I took a few pictures, if only to be able to see if I already have images of the same individual.


(she was basking in the sun but there was no way I could get round to her ...)




(a tiny glimpse of the upperside)

There were a few silver-washed fritillaries, several Queens, a high brown or two and plenty of walls also nectaring on the buddleia. Purple hairstreaks twisted down occasionally and common and chalkhill blues were in evidence.

Moving on, I visited my rosy grizzled skipper site, where this species was still active - and in fact was the only skipper I saw today. Here are two different individuals:





Blues were much more numerous and covered the mint and hemp agrimony that grew by a little stream. I think I saw both brown argus and northern brown argus, as well as common blue, Chapman's blue, Adonis blue, chalkhill blue, turquoise blue and Damon blue. Tree graylings have now replaced the formlerly abundant dryads. Several hibernators were on the wing, including brimstone, comma and peacock, and both clouded yellow and Berger's pale clouded yellows were out in good numbers. Other species seen were small copper, wall, meadow brown, speckled wood, small white, green-veined white and Bath white. There is a late season feel about the place but it is nowhere near the end yet - the place fairly hummed with butterflies today and I hope will do so for some time to come.


(hemp agrimony with tree grayling, chalkhill blue, Adonis blue and either common or Chapman's blue)


(female Chapman's - notice the detached black marks in the marginal white spaces)


(female common - although you can't see the forewing cell spot the black marks now touch the orange lunules, confirming this is not Chapman's)


(chalkhills are mostly a bit past it but will probably be on the wing for some weeks yet)


(Adonis mostly fresher - this one has a little orange on the hindwing)


(Damon blue, with an Adonis blue)


(turquoise blue)


(this is probably a brown argus - but the distinction between brown argus and northern brown argus at some of these valley sites is very unclear)


(Bath white)

Guy

[David M]

Breathtaking stuff, Guy.

How much longer do you expect Cardinals to be around for?

[Padfield]

How much longer do you expect Cardinals to be around for?

There's no Swiss precedent, David, so it's anyone's guess how they behave here. It seems that they are essentially double brooded in the far south of Europe (May-October) and single brooded further north and in the mountains (June-September) but this is not entirely clear. We don't know if the little group in Valais originated with migrants this year - in which case we are doubtless witnessing a second brood - or if they have been resident for some years under our noses, in which case it could be a protracted single brood or they might be double-brooded. Before this year I visited this exact site about once a year, usually in September, and it is perfectly possible I missed the cardinals. Either way, the limiting factor for watching them for the rest of this year will probably be the nectar sources - already most of the Buddleia flowers are brown and dead.

The fact there are still cardinals on the wing, nearly a month and a half after I first found them, coupled with the fact none have been seen elsewhere (apart from a single female photographed not far away in June), strongly implies those we are seeing now were born in Switzerland. It will be very exciting to see if their offspring survive the winter.

Guy

[Padfield]

I haven't seen any brown hairstreaks yet this year, having been in England when they usually emerge. Today I visited a site I've never visited before, recommended by a friend - but there it seems it is too late now. I found no adults, but here's a nice cluster of eggs:



It was an interesting site and I will visit again next year. Here are a few piccies:


(helice)


(Adonis blue)


(brown argus)


(Queen of Spain)

Guy

[David M]

That Adonis is a stunner.

[Padfield]

Thanks, David. As so often, the picture doesn't do her justice.

The weather's been beautiful recently but I've been very disciplined and stayed at home. Today I thought I'd have another look for brown hairstreaks (still haven't seen an adult this year, though I've photographed this season's eggs) and then check my cardinals.

No brown hairstreaks. Here, the species is very sparsely distributed over a wide area, so it's common but there are few places you can go and expect to see one. The females wander kilometres and kilometres, laying wherever they find little patches of blackthorn. This is very different from the case in England, where you can expect to see several - even double figures - if you go to their known sites.

This Apollo was nice, though!



I was also delighted to catch a flight glimpse of a stray cardinal, quite a long way from the main population.

At the main cardinal site the Buddleia is almost over. Nevertheless, between 13h30 and shortly after 15h00 I photographed four different individuals, all females. I saw one very aged male zooming around at about 14h30 and a possible male earlier, at about 13h00. I still can't quite get my head round all this - just two months ago this was the holy grail of Swiss butterflies and now I can pop down whenever I want and enjoy them.

Here is one of the first ones I found:



This really is a huge species. Here, she makes a high brown fritillary look like a small, buzzy thing!



This was the most tatty individual I saw today. There's probably plenty of life left in her still but it's unlikely the Buddleia will remain in bloom long enough for me to see much more of her:



A poor shot of a cardinal with a Queen of Spain. The Queen is rather closer to the camera but even so the cardinal dwarfs it:



I took dozens of pictures, mostly from a distance and mostly to be able to compare markings and compare individuals with each other, both today's butterflies and those from earlier days. But between pictures I just watched this magnificent species, nectaring and gliding majestically between flowers.

Other species seen were swallowtail, large white, small white, southern small white, clouded yellow (including helice), Berger's pale clouded yellow, purple hairstreak, common bue, chalkhill blue, Adonis blue, northern brown argus, wall, speckled wood, grayling, tree grayling and great banded grayling. Things are dying down now - but then again, I was rather narrowly focused today and doubtless missed much.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Wow! That Apollo belongs on a book cover; very very nice! The Cardinal shots are nice too - I particularly like the size comparison with adippe!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Colin Knight]

seconded, that is a fabulous shot!

[Padfield]

Thank you. Apollos are very photogenic butterflies!

Guy

[David M]

Wow! That Apollo belongs on a book cover; very very nice! The Cardinal shots are nice too - I particularly like the size comparison with adippe!

Absolutely! HBF is no dwarf, yet that photo, to use boxing parlance, looks like a complete mismatch....in fact, it reminds me of a regular sight I see here in S. Wales - carrion crows foolishly attacking a Red Kite.

[Padfield]

You're right, David - high browns are not small. Funnily enough, I heard buzzards making a fuss and saw an eagle today - but they never appeared in the sky together.

I nearly didn't leave the house this morning as the sky seemed completely overcast, but trusting a forecast of some sun in the morning I headed down to the valley to see if any male cardinals were still on the wing.

The first big reward for cycling to the cardinal site was a female brown hairstreak, my first of the year. I spotted her going for a walk along a track far from any blackthorn and followed her until she turned and opened her wings in the sun:



Soon after that she flew off but it was a lovely start to the day. There is plenty of blackthorn on the hillside above and I have seen brown hairstreaks here before.

Purple hairstreaks were very common. Most were looking rather world-weary ...



... and this one especially so:



Here is an underside:



At about 10h45, while I was scanning some Buddleia for cardinals, a male cardinal zoomed in from somewhere. He was obviously old - looking more like a shining silver shadow than the olive green weapons of war of a month ago. But his spirit was undiminished and he devoted his time to duffing up anything containing animal DNA. Just once he put down, by a roadside some 50 ft away - but a car was heading straight down the road and it was obvious he would bolt. So I pointed the camera in that general direction, without even looking through the viewfinder, and took a shot, in the vague hope I would catch at least proof of his existence. The car passed, he was flushed and he disappeared into the distance. This is the heavily cropped proof:



Definitely a male, but you can't say much more than that!

I hadn't expected to see any females, as they don't usually appear until after 13h30, but I found one all the same - and in quite good nick:



The usual Queens of Spain and high brown fritillaries were sharing the few remaining Buddleia flowers but my most interesting sighting of the day was a butterfly I can't identify with 100% confidence at the moment. My best bet is Erebia pronoe, form vergy, though I've not seen this form at valley level before and the completely unmarked underside is not typical. Here it is:







The underside is what I really wanted to see but that last picture is the only glimpse I had of it. I didn't have my net with me. It seemed a little small for pronoe but this might have been an illusion caused by its very worn state.

There is just a hint of the orange spots with dark pupils on the forewing:



The more I think about it, the more it has to be pronoe - but it is unusual to see this at 700m ...

Guy

[David M]

Interesting to see that your three Purple Hairstreak images are all of the butterflies at low or ground level. They rarely seem to do this in the UK.

[Padfield]

Interesting to see that your three Purple Hairstreak images are all of the butterflies at low or ground level. They rarely seem to do this in the UK.

Males in particular very commonly take minerals here, David, but it's probably fair to say they do it more in their dotage than in the prime of life. It was particularly good to see so many today (and in recent visits) because they were very thin on the ground last year (pun intended) and I didn't find a single egg over the winter.

Guy

[Padfield]

There was enough sun this afternoon to make it worth popping off to the cardinal site - but the party is over. There is almost no Buddleia left in flower and the area now has the feel of the morning after. There were a few butterflies around, though, including a couple of silver-washed fritillaries and quite a lot of Queen of Spain fritillaries. This Berger's pale clouded yellow was on a tiny Buddleia plant that probably sprang up during the summer and was still in bloom:



There was love in the vineyards:



Here's a plump female mantis, full of next year's swivel-headed supplicants:



Guy

[Maximus]

As always Guy, stunning photos, particularly the Bath White, Apollo and Cardinals

Mike

[Padfield]

Thanks Maximus. I appreciate your comment!

Things have been cold for the last week, with snow down to about 1200m and very heavy rain at my home altitude of 1000m. This morning a heavy frost gave the impression of snow much lower.

In the afternoon the valley looked sunny, though thick cloud hung over the reliefs. I've been working hard, so decided to take a break and headed east to one of my autumn sites. I wore a coat and scarf for the downhill cycle ride - the air is cold.

Although the sun shone, relatively few butterflies were flying and there was a very end-of-season feel to things. Sometimes this is an illusion and the season drags on and on but if it intends to do that there were few signs of it today.

The commonest butterflies were Adonis blues, some well past their prime ...



... but others looking much fresher:



Chalkhill blues were also much in evidence but all looked very lacklustre:



There were plenty of common blues too:



Male northern brown arguses are easy to identify:



I presume all the female Aricia I saw were also artaxerxes but they are a very different creature:



Apart from blues there were small whites and green-veined whites, clouded yellows, Berger's pale clouded yellows, tree graylings and walls. All hibernators seemed wisely to have tucked up for the winter, though warm November weather might bring some of them out again.

Here is a male Berger's, plus passenger:



About an hour after I arrived, hazy cloud covered the sun and the temperature dropped sharply:



Nothing could fly in those conditions so I came home.

Guy

[Padfield]

I've just had an armchair lifer!

Kishen Das, of http://www.flutters.org/ e-mailed me this evening to say two of the common crows (Euploea core) in my Indian pages were actually double-branded crows (Euploea sylvester). Here they are:



For comparison, here's a common crow, also photographed in Mysore:



The difference is not the colour - that was a particularly fresh common crow - but the two pale spots near the leading edge of the forewing in the double-branded crows.

I didn't expect to get any lifers today ...

Guy