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Common Blues

Common Blues are one of my favourite local butterflies, there is nothing like watching them go to roost, waving on lofty grass stems on a hot May evening, or pursuing them along a grassy slope in the latter days of August. This year they had one of their best years for a long time on the patch, with a strong first brood showing in a beautiful grassy meadow, followed by them turning up nearly everywhere in the second brood, on my transect, in my garden, you name it. I made an effort also to find some immature stages, some photos below.
The last photo shows the distinctive 'window' feeding damage that young larvae leave which can be used to find them.

Hi William, just caught up with your diary, fantastic Common Blue photos from the early stages to the dew covered male, great stuff

Mike

Hello William,

Have to agree with Maximus, a lovely sequence of images - any chance of the camera details for the adult pictures?

Rob

Lovely shots of the Blues William - especially the cat crawling away from it's egg casing - just brill

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Guys, your kind comments are much appreciated, as ever

Rob, I use a Canon 40D with 100mm F2.8 macro lens (not the L series). For the photos of the ova and larvae I add a set of Kenko extension tubes (much cheaper than Canon, and from what I've heard, do the job just as well).

Best Wishes,

William

Recent Doings

Hello all, I thought I'd move back to the present day (though some photos from 2013 will probably keep popping up). Things have been ticking along nicely here in West Somerset, and I've seen Brimstone (a few males as I travel about the place, Peacock (very fresh and in good numbers), Commas (not particularly common) and Small Tortoiseshells (relatively abundant, but only in discreet hotspots).

There have been lots of other nice things around too....

A friend showed me a magnificent Adder in his garden, no doubt I shall return to see more in the next few weeks, as this one slithered off without really staying to have its photo taken. I'm always suprised by how small they are.
The Spring wildflowers are also getting going, in particular the Celandines which are putting on a great display in the hedgerows and woods all around.
Add to this Wood Anenomes...
Marsh Marigolds...
And Primroses...
And you have a perfect spring walk so far as I'm concerned.

With the flowers come the pollinators, firstly a real favourite of mine, Bee Flies...
And of course, the Butterflies...

My first Comma of the year, a solitary male that was holding territory on the edge of a wood.
And a Peacock that was in a clearing in the same wood.
A Small Tortoiseshell feeding on Celandines
And another with strangely pale forewings..
My Orange Tip pupa are looking ready to hatch, the green one in particular has gone from this...
To this...
I think however, that I will have to wait a week or so for adults, with things like Garlic Mustard and Cuckoo Flower still a little way off flowering (though the Honesty that survived numerous rabbit attacks in the garden is blooming).

I couldn't resist this 'blind' Emperor Moth that a friend showed me to finish, a magnificent creature.

Some great images there, William.

Looks like many UKB members have been blessed with spectacularly early sightings so far this year.

David M wrote:Some great images there, William.

Looks like many UKB members have been blessed with spectacularly early sightings so far this year.

Thanks David , it seems I'll have to wait a bit longer for spring emergees this year, but the wait will make it all the better when they finally do appear

More good pictures. For the record, I also had my first comma of the year here in Cambs yesterday, despite others reporting them as being quite numerous. Peacocks everywhere, beginning to outnumber the small tortoiseshells, and small whites from the 31st of March. Do you have any thoughts on how butterfly populations might have been affected by the flooding in your county?

Rob

robpartridge wrote:More good pictures. For the record, I also had my first comma of the year here in Cambs yesterday, despite others reporting them as being quite numerous. Peacocks everywhere, beginning to outnumber the small tortoiseshells, and small whites from the 31st of March. Do you have any thoughts on how butterfly populations might have been affected by the flooding in your county?

Rob

Thanks Rob , I find Commas are always rather late with me, and I only ever see the odd one or two whenever I go for a walk locally at this time of year, though in Autumn I can get 10 or so on the rotting Apples.

I live in the West of the county, meaning I have avoided the worst of the flooding. I expect that the butteflies on the levels will have been hit pretty badly, particularly the grass feeding larvae, though that remains to be seen. Having said that, we should never underestimate our butterflies, in fact the other day I saw a magnificent photo of several Ladybirds, snails and larvae that had climbed up grass stems to escape the flooding, so perhaps there is hope yet .

The best of the level's lepidopteran fauna tends to be found in the boggy woodlands such as at Shapwick Heath, and I think these remained largely unflooded, so fingers crossed that the butterflies haven't taken too much of a blow.

I'm not really into moths William but if you keep posting images like that I could well be. What a cracker!

Thanks Pauline, it's a rather unusual form and I was very lucky to photograph it

That Small Tort does look a big pale The Blind Emperor is fantastic

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, your kind comments are much appreciated

Hi William,

I love the Blind Emperor! I've only seen an Emperor moth once or twice before, that last time I was about 12 and in Yorkshire on holiday. I also saw my one and only Gothic moth on that trip.

Best wishes,

Lee

Thanks Lee, the Emperor is a magnificent beast, and I was delighted to get up close to these ones. Previously, my only sightings had been supercharged males blasting past on hot April afternoons

Best Wishes,

William

Spring in the Air

There's a definite feel of spring in the air now locally, with flowers starting to bloom all over the place. Cuckoo Flower has just come out, as has Honesty, and Garlic Mustard is not far behind.
All this can only mean one thing, that Orange Tips are just around the corner. Sadly I haven't seen any yet, and judging by my pupae (the orange is just beginning to show on one of them) they're 10 or so days off.
Butterfly activity has been minimal over the last few days, with very little sunshine. Nevertheless, there's been a bit about, and Peacocks continue to feature. I also saw my first Speckled Wood of the year (albeit briefly) on Tuesday, so all is well.
I spent a happy 10 minutes with this Small Tortoiseshell which was mud-puddling furiously (if that is possible), crawling around energetically on a muddy track and taking short flights between puddles.
In the absence of other butterflies, I have kept myself entertained with other wildlife, including these nice cowslips which have sprung up on our lawn..
And this beautiful Dormouse which we found hibernating in our greenhouse (we were careful not to disturb it, though if any thing epitomises 'out for the count' this little creature does).

William you are so privileged to have such a unique guest . I have only ever once (last year) been lucky enough to see and hold one of these amazing little creatures. It is also a great photo and I would love to hear more news of it idc.

Thanks Pauline they truly are one of the cutest of british mammals. At the moment he/she (nicknamed 'Darius') is snoozing happily in a pile of grass and leaves in our Greenhouse, from what I've read that will remain the case for at least another 3 weeks. It seems we're pretty well suited for them in our neck of the woods, with abundant Hazel and Honeysuckle (the mice feed on the Hazel and make a nest out of shredded Honeysuckle bark apparently - rather specialist!)

Lovely shot of the Dormouse William I too have just seen my first Cuckoo Flowers in bloom so all I need now is a little nice weather and hopefully the OTs will be around soon. Good luck with the pupae - keep us posted on their progress.

Have a goodun

Wurzel