Notes and Views - February 2015

[Vince Massimo]

Confirmation that a Red Admiral has (so far) successfully survived at a known overwintering site in Crawley, Sussex. An individual photographed on 8th February 2015 by Vince Massimo was also photographed on 6th December 2014.
viewtopic.php?t=8175&start=0#p95046

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 8-Feb-2015

Vince

EDIT 17th February 2015:
Two more fresher-looking individuals were seen today, but these were new to the site (according to my photo database). It is possible that, because the site is on a small sheltered hilltop, it could also be a territorial/congregation area for passing males and not just those individuals which have managed to survive here thus far.

[Padfield]

On a slightly pedantic note, not wishing at all to crush the joy of the sightings, I would suggest this and other February red admirals have not actually overwintered, because winter is not yet over. The problem for northern red admirals is that winter lasts too long and most individuals can only make it through to about February. It would be very interesting to see if these particular butterflies are observed again when winter really is over and breeding can be productive.

Guy

[Vince Massimo]

Good point Guy

I was just happy to have matched up one of the 2014 images with one in 2015 . I will of course keep monitoring the site for later examples. The earliest I have seen an egg laying Red Admiral is 20th March (2012), so that will be my target date for this year.

I have also qualified my original post to reflect the fact that Spring has not yet quite arrived

Vince

[David M]

I have also qualified my original post to reflect the fact that Spring has not yet quite arrived

Good move.

This weekend has been abnormally benign for the time of year (I've even been out with the top down on my Triumph Stag today!!).

We could easily be hit with a cold snap before March gets into its stride.

[Pete Eeles]

From Tim Norriss:

"On 25 July I walked around my local nature reserve at Rooksbury Mill, Andover, N Hampshire primarily to look for moths attracted to the A303 underpass lights which are left on 24/7. On my way round I noticed a large butterfly on a buddleia about 20m from the path. On raising binoculars I could see that it was a Purple Emperor that appeared to be nectaring on the flowers. I only had a bridge camera with me at the time with which I took some shots to confirm the id as it wasn’t possible to get closer. At that distance I couldn’t see the proboscis though in the 15 minutes or so that I was there the butterfly did move around as if it was drinking and even flew to another flower head. And there were 15 moth species at the underpass lights on that occasion – 182 species noted in 4 years."

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

It would be interesting to know the sex. It looks compatible with a female. I've never seen either sex at nectar but females are sometimes attracted to sap. Maybe they need sugars more than males.

Guy

[Neil Hulme]

Yes, definitely a female, based on the width of the hind wing white band.
I've heard of a couple cases now where late season females have been seen nectaring on buddleia.
BWs, Neil

[Vince Massimo]

Observations and images from Maximus dating back to May 2014 relating to Orange-tip larvae which were being reared.

viewtopic.php?t=6813&start=560#p95148

Photos show two larvae tolerating each other by pupating on the same twig. All cannibalistic tendencies have been set aside by this point, presumably because their digestive systems have already shut down in preparation for pupation. Such an encounter would be less likely in the wild.

Vince

[peterc]

You may recall that I submitted a post some time ago about a sighting of iris in a friend's back garden nectaring on buddleia about ten years ago. I double-checked with him today and he says that he saw the purple sheen on the wings so seemingly a male having a good feed so maybe not just females who will occasionally feed on nectar.

Peter

[Pete Eeles]

First (outdoor) Small White of the year:

https://twitter.com/RichardFoxBC/status ... 9817673728

Cheers,

- Pete

[David M]

First (outdoor) Small White of the year

Amazing!