www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks, Vince. I hope I'll be able to document the WLH all the way - but you might remember what happened last time ...



According to Jeremy Thomas, white admirals pupate on the same honeysuckle they fed on, Pauline. That's why I'm cautiously optimistic: I am tracking larvae on three different honeysuckles at the moment. All these pictures were today:

Honeysuckle 1:


Honeysuckle 2:


Honeysuckle 3:


One of them, I trust, will make it all the way ...

All the iris cats are doing well still today. And despite the rain, a few butterflies were making the best of a bad job, including a couple of wood whites, a wall and a chequered skipper:





Guy

The weather changed today!

Up at the crack of dawn so I could take Minnie for a decent walk before the long journey to Geneva - followed for her by an hour in a backpack to the first site!



This was officially a black hairstreak and Reverdin's blue trip but I had some hopes for large copper too. This national rarity has enjoyed something of an explosion recently and I now see it yearly, as opposed to twice lifely, which was my rate before 2011. Clearly the trend is continuing. I saw it at two sites today, including at least four individuals and probably more at the second site.



What an insect!





I initially thought this next one was very worn, indicating they had been on the wing a considerable while, but I now wonder if it had had an encounter with a mower:



If I'd asked you to guess the species from that shadow, you'd have been hard pushed!

Minnie even managed to inveigle her way into a dispar shot, though sadly it flew before I could get a better picture:



Black hairstreaks were flying, but very frustratingly only one of them came low, and even then it kept disappearing round the wrong side of flowers and leaves. I got only record shots.



Other species I can only really get by heading west are pearly heath and Reverdin's blue:







Those blues were at a site where dogs aren't technically allowed, so I kept Minnie on a short lead and didn't hang around taking photos - being Saturday, there were a few people about.

Probably the most tantalising butterfly of the day was this skipper:



I have a strong feeling it's Pyrgus cirsii - which is a very rare Swiss butterfly. But I didn't have my net, as I didn't expect to need it, and I couldn't manoeuvre myself into position to see the underside - then I lost it.

There were lots of bee orchids in tiny, scattered groups:



And fragrant orchids are now in flower:



It was a long day for Minnie and actually quite hard work for me - I carried her a total of over 40km in her backpack, and though the Geneva countryside is not quite the Alps it is the foothills of the Jura and definitely 'rolling'. To be fair, the first 10km were downhill from my house to Aigle station.

Here she is, waiting to be popped into the bag for the last 11km, back to Geneva station:



Back home, we had a bite to eat then went to check on the cats. The sudden change in weather has chased Novus up his tree. I was able to find him again (he is unmistakable with his wonky horn), but he is now well above my head. It is still only a sapling, though, so if he pupates on the same tree I should be able to find the pupa. Hostilian has nowhere to go - he is on a tiny, isolated sapling - and had changed leaves by about 20cm. I couldn't find Sextus but it was evening and I don't doubt he is still there.

Guy

Your first Large Copper image shows an individual with a copper-coloured abdomen. Is this normal?

David M wrote:Your first Large Copper image shows an individual with a copper-coloured abdomen. Is this normal?

I think it is. This is a different individual (as you can easily see from the hindwing spots):



And even poor old Ragged Robin has a little copper on his bottom:



Guy

Beautiful Large Coppers, Guy!

The Minnie shots are great; the Chequered Skipper one is lovely.

Best wishes,

Lee

Thank you for the info re WA cats Guy - this being the case I must assume that 'my' cat has been predated

More great photos but the shots of Minnie always make me smile

Superb photos Guy I'm going to stick my neck out and say your Orchid isn't Bee but something similar, probably Late Spider Orchid (though that dot below the lip doesn't seem to crop up in most Late Spiders) - lovely photos

Thank you, Lee and Pauline.

You are absolutely right, William - that is a late spider orchid. I did photograph bee orchid yesterday - here is one:



When I looked through the photos I preferred the other one and didn't notice it wasn't the same species. So thank you for that!

Here are the flowers of the two species in question, both from yesterday:

Bee orchid:



Late spider orchid:



Guy

My white-letter hairstreak caterpillar, whom I've christened Wally, looks superficially the same as four days ago but there are subtle external changes, doubtless indicative of quite profound internal changes. Here are two photos, the first from 28th May, the second this afternoon:


(28th May)


(1st June)

The most obvious difference is that he is now secured to the leaf by a girdle of silk (how do they do that?). This looks flimsy but is incredibly strong stuff. I remember when my previous wild WLH cat pupated - a vicious gale blew up while he was in this stage and my heart was in my mouth as I went to have a look the next day. It turned out he had pupated overnight! It's real Spiderman sticky stuff - wind and rain are no threat to something secured by silk.

Other differences include a change in body shape. In the 28th May picture, the tail covers the leaf stem. Today, the head is no further forward but the tail is tucked in beside the leaf stem. In other words, he's got shorter and fatter. Beneath the skin, I imagine great structural transformations are taking place.

Somehow - I have no idea how - he will shed that furry skin while remaining attached to the leaf by the girdle - like a limbless spiderman changing his clothes while clinging to the underside of a roof. I don't know when this will happen because I only found the last prepupa at a slightly later stage in fat furriness.

It is edifying to remember that every white-letter hairstreak you see went through this long process of transformation, being vulnerable at every stage.

Novus is still visible up his tree - I won't post photos of him any more because they reveal nothing. He is too far away. With luck, I will photograph his pupa. Sextus has vanished. I'm sure he still exists but has simply moved out of the dank, wet shadows now he is an almost grown-up 4th instar.

Hostilian is probably less than a week from pupation now. He is huge, fat and mastering the ancient yogic art of meditating while standing on one leg:



Camilla cats are still locatable. These are the two most advanced ones, from different areas in the forest, that I hope will pupate soon:





Returning from the afternoon walk, Minnie and I spotted a Duchess less than 100m from my house:



I've never seen one here before. That's good news.

Guy

How wonderful to have a Duchess so close to where you live! I am also appreciating your tales of Hostilian.

Thank you, Katrina. Fingers crossed for Hostilian ...

We travelled along the Rhône Valley and up a tributary today, to look for Swiss Zephyr blues and Provençal fritillaries, amongst others. The weather was not brilliant but it was warm and during the occasional bright spells things would suddenly start flying.

Most brilliant, I think, were the southern white admirals, which were absolutely pristine. This is a very territorial species and many pictures were lost when individuals would launch out after Compositae seeds floating in the wind.



They weren't up to chasing dogs away, though:



That was the last of a series of pictures I took of the same butterfly, trying to get a better and better angle on it. It's a pity Minnie got bored and lay down!

She looks more perky in this picture of a Camberwell beauty ...



... almost interested in this Apollo ...



... and distinctly bored again with this Swiss Zephyr blue:



These, too, were spanking fresh:





Here is a male Provençal fritillary, of the Swiss subspecies, berisalii:



We both examined it at length:



The first marbled whites were flying in Huémoz when I took Minnie for her early walk and there were large skippers in the Valley - both heralds of the real summer season.

This Adonis blue had particularly heavy spotting:



Guy

Really enjoying you diary Guy - those trappi shots are brilliant.

My WLH cats have all disappeared, but I think birds will have taken them, not pupation,

Hi Paul! I think WLH pupae are quite hard to locate - mine had climbed up to pretty well the highest leaf on the sapling to pupate - so I shouldn't give up hope. I associate you with WLH - and in particular, with super shots of the eggs and young cats. I also associate you with trappi - I think we've seen it every time you've come here.

It's that X-files time of year again ... This was when I took Minnie out just before bed:



Guy

Spooky.... but great to see... reminds me I saw my first ever fireflies in Italy last year...... and encouraged by your comment above, I HAVE now found a pupating WLH cat!

That's brilliant, Paul! Now the long, nervous wait ...

Here's my w-album prepupa from today's lunchtime walk:



I'm pleased to say I've found Sextus again, some distance from where he was, and Hostilian and Novus are still doing fine:

Hostilian was eating, so I didn't approach closely:



Novus is miles up the tree so I can't approach closely:



And here is Sextus, still seemingly preferring the shade:



One of my camilla cats was eating furiously so I left him to it. Here is one of the others:



Guy

Wally has pupated.

Here he is on 3rd June:



He still looked like that yesterday.

Here he is today:



Notice the old skin at his tail end. The girdle has also moved back along his body, giving a clue as to how he achieved this feat.

Now the three to four week wait ... His location offers less opportunity for forest bugs to creep up on him like last time but he remains vulnerable.

Hostilian is distinctly paler today, meaning he is very close to pupation. It's impossible to tell this from a photo, because the lighting/processing makes so much difference, but it is obvious in the flesh.



The question is, where will he go? Matthew Oates's iris cats seem to climb up to the tops of the trees to pupate but Hostilian is in an isolated, 2m sapling.

Guy

I took a late afternoon trip to the Valley because it was just such a nice day. When I got there, the clouds came over, as so often happens, but it was warm and the clouds cleared later.

Iolas blues were flying in reasonable numbers even though I didn't reach their site until about 17h00:



They are looking a little worn now. In contrast, the idas blues were spanking fresh:



I saw my first large blue of the year:



A bright, fresh marbled fritillary was also zooming around - also my first of the year.

A few years ago I found Provençal fritillary at this site - the first records for many years. A fresh male was in evidence today:



Heath fritillaries were also on the wing:



I checked Hostilian in the evening. He seemed even paler and had a 'look' about him. I have my fingers crossed that he will just pop over the leaf he is on (pretty much the only suitable one on the sapling) and pupate on the other side.

Guy

Lovely images, Guy. Minnie is fast becoming the mascot of UKB!!

Thanks, David! I don't know about UKB mascot but she will, I hope, make regular appearances over the years!

Today we looked in vain for simplonia at my usual early site. It is over - not a single one. That doesn't mean I won't see it, as it flies later higher up, but it's always a sobering reminder of the passage of a season when you discover something has flown and gone before you even got round to seeing it ...

In cat news, 'baby' Sextus has now laid himself up for his final skin change into 5th instar:



Hostilian is still on yesterday's leaf but must be on the point of preparing to pupate (he needs to reposition himself upside down on the other side of the chosen leaf before he can pupate).



If he leaves his tree to pupate there's little chance of him finding another sallow to do it on. If he stays there I'll find him!

Guy

We both examined it at length:

That must be the most amusing picture ever posted on ukb. Had me in stitches.

Jack