Padfield

[Padfield]

Thanks for the confirmation, Pete.

It's final instar and, I presume, wandering in search of a place to pupate. It was rather purposefully crossing the road, rather than walking along it, so wouldn't have spent long exposed - but when I had taken a few pictures I did magic it to the other side on a leaf.

Meadow browns, eh! I haven't even reached spring yet and these little things are thinking about summer.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

It's final instar and, I presume, wandering in search of a place to pupate.

It's extremely early for it to be fully-grown final instar; perhaps penultimate instar? Unless Meadow Brown fly in early June at this location

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

It's extremely early for it to be fully-grown final instar; perhaps penultimate instar? Unless Meadow Brown fly in early June at this location

It's usually early June around here - late May in the lowlands. I'll make a point of noting when the first local one flies this year. I guessed it was final instar from its size (about an inch long) and behaviour but I rarely see Satyrid larvae and generally don't feel too confident with them.

I'll let you know!

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Guy - that's much much earlier than I'm used to! Thanks for the clarification

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Finally a sunny day. A work day, mind, but sunny, so the lunchtime walk was enlivened by a few butterflies!

Most interesting were the green hairstreaks in the woods. I only saw females today, all oviposturing and ovipositing. Here is one, caught in the act:





I should know what that plant is but don't. It was the only plant she was interested in. Here is one of the eggs she laid:



I didn't have long at lunch but it was nice to have a little contact with grown-up butterflies. Among the babies, I now note that both Durgā and Śiva have disappeared, within days of moulting into 3rd instar (they spent the winter as 2nd instar). They might both have fallen prey to something or they might have moved higher up the tree. Feeding signs should reveal their presence soon if they are still alive. All the others were thriving.

This is Nakula, my most recent find, high up in his tree:



He has the option of shade but clearly likes the sun.

Gaṅgā has just graduated into her 4th instar:



My youngest, Yudhiṣṭhira, is deep in shade and has only just laid himself up for the transition into 3rd instar. This is an awful picture, but it shows how different he is from those that have been laid up for the 3rd to 4th transition:



Guy

[bugboy]

Hi Guy, loving the regular Emperor updates and that ovipositing Green Haistreak is fantastic, looks like Birds-foot Trefoil she's laying on to me

[Pete Eeles]

I think you could be right about the foodplant, Buggy I'm always surprised when a plant with yellow flowers starts pushing out immature flowers that are distinctly red!

http://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip- ... north.html

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Ah! I knew it was a plant I knew but I couldn't place it. That makes sense - and it will of course become obvious soon if you are right.

Guy

[Padfield]

The forecast was awful for today so I stayed at home to work. In the event, it was quite warm and often sunny but I got a bit done and tomorrow is still forecast to be properly hot. I have one day to catch up on about a month's worth of butterflies ...

Caterpillar inventory for today: Durgā, Śiva, Bhīma, Sugrīva and Arjuna are all awol - either dead (most likely) or somehere higher up their trees. The rest are all in their usual places and I added a further individual today that I hadn't spotted before. He is actually on the same tiny sapling as Māyā and I have no idea how I missed him but I did, and here he is:



His name is Sahadeva, twin brother of Nakula (who is still alive and well) and the last of the five Pāndava brothers to join my mythical canon of cats.

Agni is now about 2.4 cm long - just under an inch:



Yudhiṣṭhira, the smallest of my cats, is still under 9 mm long. He is laid up for ecdysis, I think into 3rd instar, having spent the winter in 2nd:



Sarasvatī, whom I filmed emerging from her egg on 3rd August last year, is still thriving and was laid up today for her transformation to 4th instar:



Most white admiral caterpillars are still in the brown and cream livery of 2nd instar but some are in 3rd:



It is a perilous time for caterpillars. Starving, immigrant, insectivorous birds abound and the resident birds are all rearing young. It does not surprise me that I have lost 5. I can still hope to see two or three purple emperors through to pupation ...

Guy

[Padfield]

Finally, some sun on a Sunday! I visited a couple of sites in the Rhône Valley, popping into a third late in the day in the hope of a cardinal, but without success.

The full species list was: grizzled skipper, rosy grizzled skipper, dingy skipper, safflower skipper, scarce swallowtail, Apollo, small white, southern small white, green-veined white, Bath white, orange tip, wood white, Berger's clouded yellow, brimstone, common blue, Chapman's blue, Adonis blue, turquoise blue, Provençal short-tailed blue, holly blue, Osiris blue, green-underside blue, chequered blue, pearl-bordered fritillary, violet fritillary, Queen of Spain fritillary, Glanville fritillary, spotted fritillary, comma, large tortoiseshell, Camberwell beauty, red admiral, peacock, painted lady, speckled wood, wall and small heath.

Most of all I enjoyed seeing blues again. At my first site I encountered this aberrant Osiris blue, lacking any spots on the underside:



The upperside was quite normal:



Minnie watched on and laughed while I photographed a chequered blue:



This is a very photogenic butterfly!



More patient waiting while I photograph a green-underside blue ...



This is a turquoise blue:



It wasn't easy getting pictures of most blues because they were constantly being attacked by others. I had to approach that turquoise blue very carefully to avoid putting up the Chapman's blue and common blue settled very nearby ...



The commonest fritilary by far was Glanville. It was a constant accompaniment to the walk:



Safflower skippers are huge and exotic - in comparison to most Pyrgus, anyway:



There were plenty of malvoides about:



And I'm pretty sure this is a rosy grizzled skipper. I didn't see the underside and wasn't sure in the field, though in flight I assumed it was rosy. I don't see what else it can be:



I saw plenty of scarce swallowtails but surprisingly, no swallowtails.



Minnie needed a cool-down after all the excitement:



Finally, this black-tailed skimmer (female) was, I think, my first dragonfly of the year:



Guy

[David M]

Talk about finding salvation after an extended period of sin!!!

Approaching 40 species in a single day in early May is definitely a good way in which to get rid of the cobwebs!

Yes, I love the Chequered Blue too. They sure are photogenic. I sincerely hope to see one in the flesh fairly soon.

[Pauline]

Some great shots there Guy, especially the WA cat, although it will come as no surprise to you that my favourites are the ones of Minnie. Very different to Asher but a star in her own right

[Padfield]

Thank you for the comments, David and Pauline.

The last couple of days have brought out more local species. Chequered skippers are now defending territories and sparring above the meadows:





Very locally, Dukes are up and about:



This one was obviously not born yesterday:



Even more locally, meadow fritillaries are on the wing:





Here is a male sooty copper:





As you can see from all these pictures, it is not brilliantly sunny. But it is warm, and spring is advancing rapidly.

In my woods today, Agni was laid up again, this time for his final larval transition, into 5th instar:



That was fast work: he only graduated to 4th instar ten days ago.

Elsewhere in the woods, Sarasvatī was peacefully filling out her 4th instar skin:





We had a violent hailstorm last night, accompanied by strong winds. The tiny sapling where Māyā and Sahadeva live was fairly well trashed and I found it entangled in another tree when I checked it out at lunchtime today. Sahadeva was nowhere to be seen but Māyā was there, cowering in the corner of a leaf:



She was immobile in that strange, contorted position. It might be explained by the fact the leaf was suspended the wrong way up when I found the sapling. It fell the right way when I disentangled the branchces so I hope tomorrow, or whenever I next get a chance to visit her, she has straightened herself out too.

Baby Yudhiṣṭhira moulted into 3rd instar three days ago. This is him then, next to my baby finger (which is touching and displacing his seat leaf):



Then, he was still well under 1 cm long. Now he is over 1 cm and has changed his leaf. This was Yudhiṣṭhira today:



Finally, even in the shade most white admiral cats are now green. This one is 10 minutes' walk from my house:



Guy

[trevor]

HI Guy,
A beautiful set of images. You are very fortunate having such a variety of species on your doorstep.

Best wishes,
TREVOR.

[Pete Eeles]

You are very fortunate having such a variety of species on your doorstep.

It makes me sick Even for those species found in the British Isles, I'm not convinced you'd be able to see them all in a day given the amount of travel involved! Superb reporting, as ever.

Cheers,

- Pete

[trevor]

You are very fortunate having such a variety of species on your doorstep.

It makes me sick Even for those species found in the British Isles, I'm not convinced you'd be able to see them all in a day given the amount of travel involved! Superb reporting, as ever.

Cheers,

- Pete

HI Pete,
The worse is yet to come, soon we'll see postings of Poplar Admirals, Lesser Purple Emperors and every
species of Copper,Blue and Fritillary you can shake a stick at !!.

TREVOR.

[Padfield]

Don't worry, boys - it won't be just yet! On Fridays I don't have time to go home so I take Minnie into Villars with me in the morning and leave her at a friend's house. As we began our lunchtime walk it started to snow heavily:



By early afternoon the snow was beginning to settle. This is my school ...



... and this the view from the Chesières bridge:



I thought of Agni and his friends, sitting out there on their beautiful green sallow leaves in the snow ...

Guy

[David M]

Unbelievable!

What's the latest date in your area when snow has actually stuck to the ground like that?

[Padfield]

This was 31st May 2006:





(That's my old dog, of my avatar, Asha).

That's what makes the Alps so special!

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

I just love your picture of the Sooty Copper showing the meadow environment superbly.

How much do these spring butterflies suffer if there is a late snowfall? They can obviously cope with snow when hibernating [in an early stage] but snow when adults would seem to be a little unfair!

Jack