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Re: Padfield
Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:42 pm
by Padfield
David M wrote:How are these Tortoiseshells active at this time of year? Surely it's colder in the higher regions of Switzerland than it is in lowland UK.
It's much colder - up here in the mountain, at least. These pictures, taken today in the same woods as the small tortoiseshell was photographed in, show how in permashade the snow hasn't melted (and it hasn't snowed for weeks). The ambient temperature is still low.
When I cycled down to the valley on Saturday morning, my (bare) hands were frozen beyond any feeling. BUT, we are 5 degrees further south than southern England and the sun rises higher in the sky. Its radiant heat is sufficiently powerful for me to have been wandering around in a T-shirt today.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:49 pm
by Padfield
Pete Eeles wrote:Isn't it funny how, during the winter months, even the commoner butterflies seem extra-ordinarily beautiful. Sometimes we don't always appreciate what's in front of our noses!
I've always found the first STs of the year quite magical. I'm so glad this common butterfly chooses to fly before anything else, because that way we can really appreciate it.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:59 pm
by David M
padfield wrote:David M wrote:How are these Tortoiseshells active at this time of year? Surely it's colder in the higher regions of Switzerland than it is in lowland UK.
we are 5 degrees further south than southern England and the sun rises higher in the sky. Its radiant heat is sufficiently powerful for me to have been wandering around in a T-shirt today.
I guess then that these butterflies can only operate in a narrow period around midday when the sun is at its highest? You surely aren't seeing them at 930am or 4pm?
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:20 pm
by Lee Hurrell
padfield wrote:Promise broken already - here is another small tortoiseshell shot, and it wasn't doing anything interesting. I was just pleased with the backlighting and the colours. No more, I promise.
No complaints from me, Guy. Seeing any butterfly (or seeing someone else's sightings) at the moment are enough to lift the spirits!
PS - I agree, lovely colours.
Cheers
Lee
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:42 pm
by Padfield
David M wrote:padfield wrote:David M wrote:How are these Tortoiseshells active at this time of year? Surely it's colder in the higher regions of Switzerland than it is in lowland UK.
we are 5 degrees further south than southern England and the sun rises higher in the sky. Its radiant heat is sufficiently powerful for me to have been wandering around in a T-shirt today.
I guess then that these butterflies can only operate in a narrow period around midday when the sun is at its highest? You surely aren't seeing them at 930am or 4pm?
Until the equinox our days are also longer than yours.The evenings are nicely stretched out now and butterflies are still flying at 5.00pm.
This is an unusual February, though. The lack of snow is exceptional (in my own experience, only 2006-7 was a less snowy winter) and the current period of sustained sun and relatively high temperatures is combining with this to create a rather disturbing false spring. Obviously, spring is not here. I do hope winter weather returns soon so other butterflies aren't lured out, only to find themselves caught up in weeks of blizzard and freezing temperatures in March.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:56 pm
by Padfield
From
http://www.sunrisesunset.com/
Bern (Switzerland): Sunrise 07h47 Sunset 17h45
London : Sunrise 07h26 Sunset 17h02
The apparent discrepancy (sunrise being earlier in London) is due to the fact that we are an hour ahead, by time zone, but only about half an hour ahead by longitude.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:20 pm
by David M
padfield wrote:
Until the equinox our days are also longer than yours.The evenings are nicely stretched out now and butterflies are still flying at 5.00pm.
This is an unusual February, though. The lack of snow is exceptional (in my own experience, only 2006-7 was a less snowy winter) and the current period of sustained sun and relatively high temperatures is combining with this to create a rather disturbing false spring. Obviously, spring is not here. I do hope winter weather returns soon so other butterflies aren't lured out, only to find themselves caught up in weeks of blizzard and freezing temperatures in March.
Guy
But the air temperature at 1700hrs in Switzerland must surely be lower than that recorded in lowland southern Britain?
I accept what you're saying about radiated heat but at such a late hour in the day surely any residual radiated heat has dissipated?
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:10 pm
by Padfield
I don't have any answers, David, and they're good questions. But here are some observations:
The air at my altitude (about 1000m) is drier and thinner than in England. That probably means its specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity are lower so radiation plays a more significant role compared to ambient air temperature than in a more humid, sea level environment.
The thinner air also means less of the sun's radiant heat is absorbed by the atmosphere.
The south and west facing banks where I am seeing STs absorb and re-radiate more heat than horizontal surfaces would.
These three factors might mean that so long as the sun is in the sky a butterfly can maintain a sufficiently high thoracic temperature to fly. It's perhaps worth noting that at higher altitudes small tortoiseshells regularly fly over snow, where they get a double dose of radiation from the sun and reflected from the snow.
Down in the valley the situation is different. There, I find early butterflies among the terraced vineyards where hotspots readily build up. It is because of the very favourable conditions here that the vines were planted in the first place.
In England, where moist air from the surrounding sea acts as a buffer the temperatures drop less at night and rise less while the sun is in the sky.
Whatever the causes, STs are now out in numbers here, not just in ones and twos. No other species are, though. The brimstones and commas, and peacocks to a lesser extent, normally wait for a more appropriate time of year.
That's all I can say! Any more would be pure speculation!
Guy
Here's a late afternoon view taken the other day in my home village. The slope in the foreground is inclined towards the east, hence the long shadows. But the other side of that hill, in the full sun, it is gloriously warm.
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2011/7thfeb2011b.jpg)
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:14 pm
by Lee Hurrell
Hello Guy,
No sign of atalanta yet?
Cheers
Lee
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:19 pm
by Padfield
Not yet, Lee. Red admirals very rarely survive the winter here. Some did last year (my first butterfly was a red admiral last year) and plenty did in the winter of 2006-7, but I think this is the exception rather than the rule.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:59 pm
by David M
padfield wrote:I don't have any answers, David, and they're good questions. But here are some observations:
The air at my altitude (about 1000m) is drier and thinner than in England. That probably means its specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity are lower so radiation plays a more significant role compared to ambient air temperature than in a more humid, sea level environment.
The thinner air also means less of the sun's radiant heat is absorbed by the atmosphere.
The south and west facing banks where I am seeing STs absorb and re-radiate more heat than horizontal surfaces would.
These three factors might mean that so long as the sun is in the sky a butterfly can maintain a sufficiently high thoracic temperature to fly. It's perhaps worth noting that at higher altitudes small tortoiseshells regularly fly over snow, where they get a double dose of radiation from the sun and reflected from the snow.
Down in the valley the situation is different. There, I find early butterflies among the terraced vineyards where hotspots readily build up. It is because of the very favourable conditions here that the vines were planted in the first place.
In England, where moist air from the surrounding sea acts as a buffer the temperatures drop less at night and rise less while the sun is in the sky.
Whatever the causes, STs are now out in numbers here, not just in ones and twos. No other species are, though. The brimstones and commas, and peacocks to a lesser extent, normally wait for a more appropriate time of year.
That's all I can say! Any more would be pure speculation!
Guy
Here's a late afternoon view taken the other day in my home village. The slope in the foreground is inclined towards the east, hence the long shadows. But the other side of that hill, in the full sun, it is gloriously warm.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply, Guy. I think I'm getting the message but I'm still having trouble reconciling the idea of butterflies being active so close to sunset at a relatively northern latitude in February.
Ultimately, the fact that they clearly ARE active must mean that something is making them capable of doing this, and I'm sure your explanation is pretty close to the whole truth.
Re: Padfield
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:35 am
by Jack Harrison
Lovely view near your village Guy. It would be nice if you could update the view from exactly that position throughout the seasons.
Where exactly is it? Google Earth link perhaps.
Just curious Guy. You obviously speak several languages fluently. Which do you speak most often?
Jack
Re: Padfield
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:03 pm
by Padfield
Jack Harrison wrote:Lovely view near your village Guy. It would be nice if you could update the view from exactly that position throughout the seasons.
Where exactly is it? Google Earth link perhaps.
Just curious Guy. You obviously speak several languages fluently. Which do you speak most often?
Jack
Hi Jack. I live in Huémoz, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (La Suisse Romande). This link should take you to the village and the local meadows where the STs are flying:
http://maps.google.ch/maps?f=q&source=s ... 5&t=h&z=17
The photo you are talking about was taken towards the top right corner of this picture (taken from Google Earth):
French is the local language and the Swiss dialect is essentially identical to the language spoken in France, give or take a few local idioms. Along the Rhône Valley to the East, Swiss German comes to predominate but French is also spoken, so from Sion eastwards most towns have two names (Sion is 'Sittern' in German, Sierre is 'Siders' &c.). Swiss German (Schwyzerdütsch) is very different from Hoch Deutsch but it is only a spoken language. Everyone can read and understand Hoch Deutsch and all written information is also in this language.
My school is officially bilingual but with fewer than 200 students it still encompasses over 40 nationalities so it's a fantastic place for a language freak like me to live and work!
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:32 pm
by Jack Harrison
Thanks Guy. All most interesting.
I must have flown over (or nearly over) your house scores of times but always high (circa 30,000 feet) so wouldn't have been a noise nuisance. I didn't land in Switzerland very often. I am struggling to remember which airfields but certainly used to go to Zurich quite regularly at one time. Apart from Zurich, nearest places to you that I landed were Chambery, Milan and my favourite, Innsbruck.
I had a memorable experience one day while taxying out at Innsbruck - a quite unmistakable Scarce Swallowtail flapped in front of the windshield.
Now an embarrassing admission. One day I was phoned up at home and told by company operations that they wanted me to fly to Graz the next evening.
"Fine, but where's that?"
"Not sure" came the reply.
"Well which country?"
"Sorry, don't know."
This was long before the days of internet, so out came the family atlas. Graz is Austria's second city.
And don't worry, the proper maps and details were available next day when I checked in for work. I found Graz but didn't see much except the airfield lights
Jack
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:53 pm
by Padfield
FINALLY the Rhône Valley Queens have woken up!
They seemed to be freshly emerged individuals - small and often greenish, like typical first generation Queens - rather than hibernated adults, though it's impossible to say for sure. I saw half a dozen in total, defending what hotspots they could find. In fact, 'hotspot' is a very relative term here: I don't think the temperature ever got above about 9°C (forecast max 10°C) and it felt colder, with a chilly breeze. These are still winter butterflies, not spring butterflies.
Locally, orange underwings were numerous, flapping around like lame butterflies and occasionally crash landing.
Small tortoiseshells were nectaring avidly on the Bulbocodium, which is now abudant all over the site:
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:59 pm
by Jack Harrison
Those Queens certainly look brand spanking new. Beautifully clear photos.
Jack
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:22 pm
by Padfield
Thanks Jack.
My website came back on, so I edited the post to link to my own pictures, and then all of a sudden it disappeared again. So apologies to anyone who can't see those spanking clear pictures now!
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:17 am
by Paul
lovely shots Guy
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:08 pm
by Padfield
This was supposed to be the last day of sun so I went off to look for peacock and red admiral in suitable places. The peacocks didn't show, though their woods were beginning to show signs of life:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2011/hepatica111.jpg)
(Hepatica)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2011/heather111.jpg)
(Heather)
For red admiral, I went to the last place I saw them in 2010. Initially, only small tortoiseshells were evident, but just before I left I found this beautiful (if a little threadbare) creature defending a sunny corner:
This is a rare sight in Switzerland in February and if I hadn't expressly cycled up the hill to this site I wouldn't have seen one.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:25 am
by Paul Wetton
Hello Guy
Great shots. Nice to see some butterfly action this time of the year.
I especially like the Queen of Spains beautiful and very fresh looking. Do you get these up the Val d'Herens at the end of June as I've never photographed or video'd them before. Actually I guess much of what I'll see this year I've probably not filmed before. Can't wait. I'll be booking the campsite soon and the ferry then it's just a case of waiting and trying to learn all your local butterflies. It's not going to be easy.
All the best