Pauline

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Pauline
Good to see you are out of hibernation It looks like you have been busy.
That Sallow Kitten larva is delightful

[Pauline]

Thank you Paul. Together with the Puss moth they have to be my favourites. Quite odd seeing it eat what looked like a mini version of itself tho'

Well, I couldn't blame Jaffa. It was my own fault. I should never have left the pupa unattended but never dreamed I'd return to find her throwing it in the air and rolling it across the floor. I assumed she must have caught it with her nail. I expect she thought it was something quite special after all the attention I'd been giving it. I still felt bad about it tho'. I got up early the next day as usual and was astonished to find a perfectly formed butterfly waiting for me :

I only had one chance left now to see a Small Copper emerge and given their development had been in parallel I expected the emergence to be imminent. I took up my post and camera again and prepared for another lengthy wait for some action with the 2nd pupa.

Just after 8.00am

About 11.30am

I seem to recall that the weather over these few days was shocking - dark (even during the day) and heavy rain - which was why the shots were taken indoors and I haven't mastered that technique yet At 11.47 it all suddenly kicked off:

It took under 2 minutes from start to finish:

So, I was well pleased with another 100% success rate (after the 11 Commas), particularly given the earlier scare. I was able to get a few more shots in dry but windy weather before they were returned to Noar Hill:

Butterfly with its original egg.

[Goldie M]

Great Shots Pauline, I bet you were really pleased with the results, sounds like your Cat wanted attention as well though Goldie

[David M]

Phenomenal. What a privilege that must have been.

[Pauline]

I was absolutely delighted Goldie as I had been expecting the worst with the 1st pupa.

Thank you David. It was amazing to see and worth all the watching and waiting. Trouble is, it is over so quick I just want to press a rewind button and watch it again and again. Perhaps I should try using video

The difficulties created during a 12 hour power cut left me in serious need of a 'butterfly fix' so before I continue with the imatures of last season, a few imatures from here:

As before, the Heliconius eggs were peppered across the passiflora and egg-laying was very evident.

Martin had informed me that it only takes 20 days for this species to go from butterfly to butterfly thru 5 instars so I had expected to find cats of all sizes. The only ones I could locate however were really quite small:

I continued to look for other eggs and found a great many. Some looked only slightly different and were on the same food plant which lead me to presume they were the same species in a later stage of development. Others were clearly different and on different plants but I have no idea what any of them are. Yet again, there was no evidence of any large cats but I did find some that were newly hatched and eating their shells:

It would be remiss of me not to end with a few shots of my favourites:

[bugboy]

Lovely shots Pauline and the Small Copper emerging is a fantastic sequence. Those eggs look like Caligo sp. If that's banana they are laid on thats what they will be.

[Mike Robinson]

Wow; some super-impressive pictures.

[MrSp0ck]

Nice pictures of the eggs and larvae.

The heavily spotted heliconius larvae are ismenius, the non spotted is hecale or numata.
You have some great shots of Owl eggs which you can see the larvae eating its way out, and still rolled up inside, and eating their eggshell. Owl larvae are nearly always in the center rib of the banana leaves, they do move to stems when they are massive, but take 2-3 months to grow to that size.

[trevor]

HI Pauline,
Some amazing shots from RHS Wisley. Also your sequences of home bred Butterflies emerging are
a joy to behold. I don't ever remember seeing a Small Copper emergence captured on ' film '.

Hold on in there, Spring is getting ever closer .

All the best,
Trevor.

PS. Might see you at BB. for Spring brood Wood Whites.

[Wurzel]

Superb shots Pauline - those Small Copper are to die for, especially for Hoggers

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Pauline

I have to agree with others comments, that Small Copper emergence sequence is superb. I can not ever remember seeing a picture of an adult butterfly next to its own original empty egg, amazing

[Pauline]

Wow! What an amazing set of comments. Thank you.

You're absolutely right Buggy as usual Thank you for the ID and comment.

Good to hear from you Mike - I appreciate the compliment.

I am grateful for your on-going help Martin and pleased you liked the shots. I would have loved to see those cats when they get bigger - what a pity the event doesn't carry on longer.

Spring can't come soon enough for me Trevor! I am pleased you like the 'home grown' specimens as I hope to produce a few more this year . May well see you at BB

Thank you so much Wurzel. I was relieved and delighted at the result but it was all over just so quick!

Thank you too Paul - I have to agree as that is one of my favourite shots too.

Another quick update on the Bright line Brown eye - the larva of a moth which I found decimating my tomatoes last season. It comes in 2 colour forms, green and brown, and I decided to rear one of each:

(2nd Sept 2014)

(16 Sept 2014)

(16 Sept 2014)

They both pupated towards the end of September and as of today are both still safe and sound. An unassuming little moth which flies between May and July so I have a while to wait before I see the finished product

[MrSp0ck]

You can play mix the words up with Bright Line Brown Eye and Brown Line Bright Eye , Always are careful when writing down the moth trap records.

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline just catching up after a rather hectic weekend Sat was spent at Penn Flash and Sunday at Chester Zoo, I was disappointed with the Butterfly House though,( not as many Butterflies has I thought) lots of Chrysalis though and some were emerging.
Your recent photos are great Pauline, roll on Spring Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pauline, catching up on some diaries and just saw your Small Copper sequence...superb stuff

All the best,

Neil.

[Pauline]

Thank you guys - I've been out of action due to flu bug for last 8 days so apologies for late response. On the mend now so can't wait to get out and about again

[Pauline]

Still not 100% but it was such a gorgeous day on Friday that I decided to take a leaf out of Paul's book and search for discarded WLH eggs. I don't know why I have never thought of doing this before as I have foraged both BH and PH eggs from fallen trees/branches and the Hairstreaks are my favourite group. I headed for Cosham and was quite taken aback at the changes there. Following my last visit I commented that there were signs of intrusion - litter and beer cans strewn around for example. Security has clearly been tightened up with a new fence and new signs warning of trespassing and prosecutions:

Whilst this has always been a private site, I was led to believe that IBM actively encourage wildlife and in the past they have been very tolerant of the butterfly folk who wait patiently just inside the boundaries for a glimpse of the WLH and perhaps the opportunity of a photo. However, these new measures have caused me some concern. I was discussing the implications with Paul and I am sure he won't mind me mentioning that he has a contact at IBM through whom he is endeavouring to find out our 'official' position and whether it will curtail our activities this season. I trust that you will update us all through your diary in due course Paul?

There were a lot of Elm branches down due both to the gales and also a fair bit of strimming had been carried out to open up the area. I was not quite sure what I was looking for apart from the image I had in my mind of Paul's WLH egg. After about an hour I came across something that looked like an egg but it seemed the wrong colour - too dark and possibly not in the right position. I decided to 'save' it anyway, whatever it was, and subsequent photos have shown that it is indeed a WLH egg:

Well, this was a first for me as I have never, ever seen one. Having found the first egg, having 'got my eye in' so to speak, subsequent eggs were easier to locate:

Just like the BH that I rescued recently I found a branch with 3 WLH eggs on - not very easy to see as they were largely covered in green moss. Not sure what these other eggs are which were on the same branch:

Before leaving I noticed that on some of the trees the blossom was starting to burst open. I wondered if this was a sign that the eggs might hatch earlier than usual? Coincidentally, 2 of these trees were where I spotted most of the butterflies last season. Perhaps they can sense which position provides the best/earliest food source?

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline , glad you found your WLH eggs and looking forward (if you took some home) in seeing the out come Goldie

[Pauline]

Thank you Goldie. I did indeed take home the eggs I found as they were on twigs on the ground and I believe they would have perished otherwise. Paul has a few too and we have been exchanging notes and sharing advice received from Pete, Martin and others so it will be interesting to keep an eye on his diary too . Naturally I have been keeping a close eye on the eggs which are in different places - not all in one basket, so to speak! I try as far as possible to keep eggs/larva in places I will frequently pass to make it easier to monitor them. This morning I was sweeping the path prior to the arrival of some visitors to try to make the place look a bit tidier - fat chance of that with hens and ducks running around . As I passed the eggs for the umpteenth time I noticed that one of them seemed to be changing in appearance - I always keep a hand lens at the ready for a quick squint at them! Sure enough, a larva was emerging! It was a treat to view this amazing event but frustratingly I could not get the sort of sharp shots I would have liked as the light was poor, and I really believe that this time it was the camera holding me back rather than my own performance, which is usually the case. I have had to crop heavily but would like to share a few shots of this tiny creature:

When the little cat initially emerged it spent some time wondering around the barren top of the twig before heading down. I was a bit concerned when it went down to the bottom, past the open buds, almost to the water. I was about to intervene when it headed North again and this time successfully located a bud which it made a bee-line for. The last I saw of it was the back end as it quickly wriggled in between the petals.

[David M]

Superb sequence, Pauline. That larva is absolutely minuscule! I hope it survives & prospers.