Thanks Pauline - I'll keep you posted on Plotina!
I saw my parents off yesterday (in the rain) and set off this morning for the hills (in the rain). Luckily, the middle of the day was warm enough to bring out a good number of butterflies, though the constantly changing cloud made for difficult conditions:
The species list for the day was not huge but included interesting variety: Apollo, small white, mountain green-veined white, mountain dappled white, wood white, peak white, orange tip, Berger's pale clouded yellow, sooty copper, green hairstreak, large blue, little blue, common blue, Adonis blue, Amanda's blue, mazarine blue, Geranium argus, pearl-bordered fritillary, Peacock, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, Glanville fritillary, Asian fritillary, marbled white, alpine grayling, great sooty satyr, blind ringlet, alpine heath, small heath, northern wall, grizzled skipper, alpine grizzled skipper and dingy skipper.
Of these, the 'target' (more of a twitch, really, as I knew I would find it) was Asian fritillary. Here is a female:
She spent over two hours nectaring in one place, as if she had all the thyme in the world. I think she only moved on because a nordic walker zoomed past her. And this profile suggests she might be fattening herself up for a reason ...
This is a male, on a different patch of thyme:
And here is another male:
This peak white gives an idea of the changing conditions up there!
While I was watching the butterflies, I was being watched myself:
He really thought I couldn't see him:
After a while he and his friends decided I was safe, provided I kept my distance. Here is a long-shot:
Fans of little blues migt enjoy this video of a sizeable group of them (with mazarine blues, grizzled skippers and dingy skippers) being annoyed by ants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWU8uYpCtrg[/video]
When I came back to the group later it had been joined by a geranium argus:
This picture shows a little blue (on the left) squaring up to a mazarine blue. It shows how deceptively similar they can be:
Here is the same mazarine blue proving his identity:
It would get very boring if I showed pictures of everything I saw, so just a couple more. The first is one of many green hairstreaks still active in the mountains:
Lastly, a lovely alpine grayling:
Maybe the season is going to catch up with itself now! The weather is set fair for the weekend.
Guy