It's been a very busy few weeks but today, for the first time in ages, I had no commitments other than to me and Minnie.
In the morning, a sea of cloud filled the valley:
The fallen apples, that so recently attracted red admirals, were providing food for the choughs, down from the mountain:
(those dog-poo bags in the tree appeared after a children's party, along with some balloons - I've no idea why)
The choughs were taking fruit off the trees, too:
It obviously wasn't a day for wild butterflies, so I got on with a little of my own work then headed off to the Papiliorama, to take in some more exotica. I've been visiting this butterfly house regularly for over a year and always see something new, that I've never seen before. With almost 100 species photographed there before today I didn't really expect any more, but as usual there were some surprises in store.
The first new species for me was
Eupleoa midamus - or at least, I think that's what it is. It's certainly
Euploea. I've seen
core and
sylvester in India and had hoped to see a representative of the genus in the Papiliorama but until today never had:
It had obviously been attacked by one of the many birds there while drying its wings, which were cumpled and nibbled, even though when I first found it it was right next to the wing-drying tree:
Another new species was
Biblis hyperia, a striking black and red butterfly found from Texas southwards through South America:
A new species of
Caligo for me was this
Caligo memnon, with attractive pale patches on the forewings:
And a new Morpho was this
Morpho deidamia:
This is
Papilio paris, an Asian swallowtail I've not seen before:
And though not a new species, this was the first female of
Atrophaneura semperi I've seen. The males are quite different, though equally striking (the swallowtail in the background is
Papilio rumanzovia):
As you can tell from the graininess of the photos, it was rather gloomy in the Papiliorama and in fact not terribly warm. They close earlier in the winter and perhaps keep it a degree or two cooler than in the summer.
I haven't had time to go through my African books to identify this
Charaxes species yet:
It's a huge genus and it usually takes me ages to get a firm ID.
Finally, for the new stuff, I think this distant photo is of
Catonephele acontius, though I am not sure yet.:
I always look for caterpillars. The easiest to find are those of
Morpho peleides, which breeds freely in the Papiliorama. Most people pass under this spot without realising the black dots on the leaves are all tiny cats:
Minnie has to wait for me in the Papiliorama kennels, so I can't spend too long inside these days, especially as it is getting colder. But it was a surprisingly productive afternoon for a weekend, when I thought there might be thousands of visitors - there were actually very few.
Guy
PS - for those planning to visit butterfly houses this winter, my ID page is at
http://www.guypadfield.com/butterflyhouse.html and now features 102 species, covering a fair number of what you are likely to see and perhaps providing clues to others.
At Christmas I hope to try the Stena Line service to bring Minnie back to the UK. Apparently they arrange Switzerland to Harwich, via Holland, and you have unrestricted access to the kennels area during the crossing.
