www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

The sun shone today but very, very little flew in Valais. I visited a site mainly to look for populi and ilia cats - neither of which I found, though I now find camilla cats without even looking:



The only blue flying, at what is normally a fantastic site, was chalkhill:



A fair few Satyrids were on the wing - meadow browns, small heaths, speckled woods, Scotch arguses and dryads - and four fritillaries were flying - silver-washed, Queen of Spain, high brown and dark green.


(female silver-washed, form valesina)


(female high brown)

Other than these species, a few whites and a single swallowtail were enjoying the morning sun. The site normally produces in abundance all through September.

A surprise sighting, though, was Jonathan Livingstone Bat, happily cruising around catching insects in the middle of the day (11h30), in full-on sunshine!



I think he was getting beetles. Whenever his prey showed up in a picture it looked solid and shiny:



I'm not sure what species this is. It wasn't behaving like Daubenton's (which I've seen flying in the daytime in spring, on emergence from hibernation), though it was near a stream - but then again, it wasn't really behaving like a bat.

I moved on to another site to look for reducta cats but the sun had mostly gone by then so it's difficult to judge how depleted the butterfly scene there was. I did see rosy grizzeld skipper and scarce copper, which was nice, but only a handful of other species.





In the hotspots, where reducta flies in the greatest numbers, the honeysuckle was already over - or perhaps grown over. I couldn't find any, anyway, and I know it's there as I found caterpillars on it in the spring. In the shade the honeysuckle was fine, but reducta doesn't lay in the shade. I did manage to find some evidence of reducta in half-shade at one or two places. There were no cats in evidence but there is no mistaking the leaf damage (and camilla doesn't fly at this site):





And here's Minnie:



Guy

Great shot of the day flying bat, Guy. Is this kind of behaviour common?

Could it be that,with all the rain in Guys neck of the woods,bats have struggled to feed properly and,with hibernation coming up,it saw a chance for a bit of extra feeding?

Incredible images of the bat Guy but I see you saved the best til last

I assumed, with Essex Buzzard, that the bat was making up for lost feeding time due to the very wet and cold summer. Flying insects have been quite a scarce commodity since the beginning of July. I've sent a note to the Valais bat coordinator and will report his comments if he makes any.

I agree with you, Pauline, that the best picture was the last!

Little new to report today, except that Sarasvatī has adopted the prayer posture and so is laid up for her next moult, into 3rd instar. I think Brahmā is too, but I can't get a side angle on him to be sure. This is Sarasvatī:



There is no doubt about her condition - that head is coming off very soon.

Trijaṭā moulted into second instar late this morning. At lunchtime she was sitting by her shed skin, with still pale horns:



The camilla cats are steadily working through their leaves, scythe by scythe:



This one has almost finished his leaf. It will be interesting to see what he does next:



Guy

The Valais bat representative was very helpful and suggested my bat was most probably Savi's pipistrelle. He had not received any similar reports this summer and said bats had not had difficulty getting enough to eat. This was probably an isolated incident, caused by the bat being disturbed in its roost or anomalously changing its diurnal rhythm due to illness, parasites or injury.

Guy

The weather has improved dramatically these last days and as if in rebound, July butterflies were flying in my woods. First, there was this white admiral, apparently still looking for fresh honeysuckle to lay on:



Then a female white-letter hairstreak:



I'm also pretty sure I saw a male cardinal zoom through but it would be a very significant record in my local woods at this time of year (when in principle they are all down at the valley breeding site) and I can't be 100% on this one.

Sarasvatī has moulted into third instar. There's no sign of her skin, but it is clear she has graduated.

Yesterday:

(notice the hunched back and pinched neck)

Today:

(the head is now flush with the body - this is the instar she will hibernate in, if she survives)

Brahmā is still in 2nd instar, but seemingly bursting out at the shoulders - he must moult soon:



Indra has started the process:



Otherwise, no change.

Guy

Did an upland walk today. Initially (I arrived at about midday) there were rather few butterflies, and indeed we saw very few species throughout the walk, but as we ran down the mountain to catch the bus, clouds of butterflies were flying up. These were mostly chalkhill blues and Swiss brassy ringlets, of both of which species we saw many hundreds of individuals. I say, 'we' - I don't think Minnie was too excited by them.

From the right angle, even worn and tatty tyndarus can gleam brassy:



Here is one from the 'wrong' angle:



The first is a male and the second a female, though - I've never really thought about how this affects the brassiness. Perhaps the females aren't brassy ...

This is a male:



As is this:



The infamous pales and napaea were both flying - at exactly the same site, where we stayed for about an hour. Sadly, my camera is coming to the end of its useful life and I miss dozens of pictures because it fails to focus properly. I wanted to catalogue as many individuals as I could, in the interests of science, but ended up with rather few.

This is one of two female napaea I photographed. She's not dark, but the forewings gleamed violet from some angles.





Quite different was this female pales:



The napaea females were significantly larger than the pales and both had very pale undersides. This is the underside of the other napaea female. She was intent on egg-laying and was always deep in vegetation, constantly moving:



For the record, this is the best I could get of her upperside:



This is another female pales - though by size and intensity of orange it looks like a male and I thought it was one when I photographed it. Then I saw the abdomen, which I don't think can be male:



And another female pales:



This one is a male - pales I presume:



I didn't get any clear shots of male napaea. I did see one or two, but most frustratingly my camera was playing up and I just couldn't get them. In any case, males seemed to be over - females were much commoner. Many of the male pales were long past their prime:



SO, a trip to that spot is on the cards for July next year, if it doesn't rain all month, when I should be able to get males of both species and maybe advance the science of distinguishing between them!

Here is gardetta:



And, saving the best until last, as Pauline would say, here is Minnie:



Guy

Breathtaking scenery Guy - Minnie clearly thinks the same

In the Rhône Valley, the cardinals are finally looking jaded:



He was still a powerful flier and I couldn't get close, but his colours are ashen now, rather than vibrant tarnished copper.

I was amazed to see a purple emperor still defending a high vantage point in a sallow. 13th September is a record for me with this species:



Purple hairstreaks are worn but still common:





This brown hairstreak has spent her days creeping around inside blackthorn bushes, painstakingly laying eggs. I hope she can enjoy a well deserved retirement now:



Small, southern small and green-veined whites were all flying, as well as wood whites and a few Bath whites:



For the blues, common, Chapman's, Adonis, chalkhill, Damon and brown argus were on the wing. This is a Damon blue:



I saw few skippers, mallow being the commonest:



Obviously, the Queens were flying - they are always flying in the Rhône Valley:



Because the Buddleia is almost over, few other fritillaries were in evidence. For the most part, it was tired-looking silver-washed frits and slightly fresher high browns.

Other species seen were swallowtail, Berger's clouded yellow, clouded yellow, wall, large wall, great banded grayling, tree grayling and red admiral.

Later in the day I popped down to check my caterpillars in the forest. The change in weather has led many to change leaves and they can be difficult to relocate. I thought I'd lost Brahmā until I spotted his little antennae sticking out from behind a twig:





Varuṇa changes leaves all the time. I lost him for a week or more, then found him a few days ago, then lost him again and finally found him again this evening:



He needs to settle down, so he can secure his chosen leaf with silk before the leaves start falling - unless he plans to secure every leaf on his sapling.

I found a couple more caterpillars today. Both appear to be in third instar and both are on the same sapling, very close to the ground. They are Durgā ...



... and her consort, Śiva:



I don't know how I missed them before, but as I walked past this evening the characteristic feeding signs just leapt out at me:



This autumn is a couple of weeks ahead of schedule, phenologically (trees &c.) so I reckon I've got to keep track of these creatures for about another month-and-a-half before they'll be in hibernation and stop wandering around!

Since I got my eye in I have been finding white admiral cats all the time, with great ease. Some of them are still young. I think this is first instar:



This picture shows how tiny they still are. That is a medium-sized honeysuckle leaf:



There are three white admiral cats in this picture:



Guy

Great report Guy, as usual. I really like the annotated context photos - they really bring the experience to life!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Pete. I thought the annotated piccies might be useful for anyone looking for their own purple emperor or white admiral cats. The season up here in the mountains is probably similar, in terms of timing, to the UK, so now is an excellent time to look for purple emperor cats in particular. The vast majority are either well into second instar (all the ones I'm following are now out of first instar) or already in third, which means the second instar feeding signs, which are absolutely unmistakeable, should be relatively easy to find. Where they fly, purple emperors do so at a much higher density in the UK than in Switzerland, so presumably the cats are also higher density. It's a strangely cathartic activity, looking for tiny hornéd people sitting on the tips of leaves trying not to be seen ...

Guy

It does seem strange to still be seeing adult Purple Emperors when there are chunky larvae of the same to be observed too.

Glad to see it's finally stopped raining chez toi!

Guy,
I am pleased tbat you are at last msnaging to see some butterflies, even if they are a bit worn. It is typical that your year out of teaching has been such bad weather. I hope you were able to get plenty of work done on your book.

Yes - very strange, David!

Thank you Nick. It is annoying to go back to school to lovely weather, after such a dire summer! I'm working part time, so I can continue on my own work, which will be completed in due course ... I'll let you know when!

Yesterday I checked the newbies, Durgā and Śiva, to find (as I expected) that Durgā had gone wandering. I expected it as she had clearly recently quit her 2nd instar leaf and had eaten very little of the leaf where I found her yesterday. It seems she has been checking out every leaf on her little bit of sapling, one by one. I found her crawling at high speed down a bare twig:



It's a snatched picture because she was moving fast.



She then headed back towards the more central leaves:



In this next picture, B is where she was two days ago (just a small nibble out of the edge of the leaf), A where I first found her yesterday and C where she finally settled (or rather, where she was when I walked past on my return):



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Guy

I did an inventory of my iris cats today and I think I know where I have been going wrong in the past. All the cats I named after humans (Rāma, Sīta, Lakṣmaṇa) are dead or gone awol. All the cats named after gods and demons (gods: Brahmā, Sarasvatī, Varuṇa, Indra, Śiva, Durgā; demons: Trijaṭā, Vibhīṣaṇa) are thriving. Two (Sugrīva and Hanumān) were named after monkeys. I thought I'd lost both but one (Sugrīva) turned up safe and well today.

I photographed the 9 still locatable. Here they are:


(Indra - third instar)


(Brahmā - third instar)


(Sarasvatī - third instar)


(Śiva - I had thought third instar but he is on a second instar feeding leaf - he was a more recent find)


(Durgā - I think third instar)


(Sugrīva - second or third instar - I lost and refound him so will have to look back over his records to decide)


(Trijaṭā - second instar - laid up for moult)


(Varuṇa - second instar)


(Vibhīṣaṇa - second instar)

Guy

Yesterday it rained. This is Sarasvatī up to her horns in water again:



Don't worry - she's used to it!

Today, Minnie and I checked out the cardinals. We only had an hour on site but it is clear the season is coming to an end. We saw just one cardinal, a female, resting in the vineyards:



She was quite worn and clearly tired - I hope from laying hundreds of eggs - and I was able to get up close and personal with her:



This time last year we were wondering whether this new-found population, the first known colony of cardinal in Switzerland, would be a flash in the pan or prosper. It certainly prospered in 2014, despite the appalling wether. I have seen cardinals on every visit to the Martigny region since 4th May. A very welcome addition to the Swiss fauna.

Otherwise, distinctly less was flying than last week. Adonis, chalkhill and common blues are still common, but apart from a single brown argus these were the only blues I saw. There were a few purple hairstreaks - but just last week these were out in force:



Clouded yellows have suddenly become common and Berger's were still floating around. Large whites were also noticeable - I haven't seen that many this year. I think the recent hot weather, hailing from the south, has brought migrants with it. Southern small whites were flying with the small whites. Here is a wingtip of a southern small white that I was able to photograph close up, showing the lack of a fork in v.7:



A very few silver-washed fritillaries and high brown fritillaries were kicking around, as well, obviously, as dozens of Queens of Spain. For the skippers, just a few mallows and for the browns, wall, tree grayling and small heath.

Guy

So the autumn creeps on. The last couple of days have been sunny but cold (though today it is merely cold), with only red admirals and a few residual dryads flying on my local patch. The purple emperor caterpillars are patiently waiting for winter to fall. This is Indra:



He has been on that leaf since I first found him, a few weeks ago. As befits the chief of the gods he is confident and proud, surveying the forest from his solitary perch. One day, perhaps, he will look down on the same forest as a gleaming purple adult, defending his territory ... But he's still only a baby chief god.

All nine of my remaining iris cats seem to be settled on their leaves. When hibernation time comes they will be on the move again and it may be difficult to track them down, but with any luck they'll stay put until then.

Yesterday I took an extended walk, including the richest white admiral spots. Several cats were out in the direct sun, fattening up on healthy honeysuckle leaves and now looking quite mature:









Guy

Little time to play at the moment, but on Sunday morning I had a short break in the Rhône Valley, where the only really common species was tree grayling. Here is a familiar autumn scene:



A handful of graylings (semele) were in evidence too:



For the blues, only Adonis, common, Chapman's and northern brown argus seemed to be flying, though I'm sure there were some chalkhills about too somewhere - there always are at this time of year. Clouded yellows and Berger's are still flying and a single, rather worn rosy grizzled skipper was on its usual site. In general, though, things are closing up much earlier than usual. It will be interesting to see if this augurs an early winter or is simply a consequence of the wet, cold summer.

All nine of my iris cats are still healthy and as happy as you can be if you sit around all day doing nothing. This is Durgā:



She is incredibly mobile and changes leaves every day, so it's a bit of a game to find her. All the others are settled.

Finally, a couple of camilla cats:





These are second instar - the stage that will hibernate. They are very easy to find at the moment.

Guy

Those Tree Graylings are alcoholics!!

I bet by late afternoon they can hardly fly!