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Hi Bob,
Your pupa looks very healthy.

If it were dead, it would look like this..........
It was gnawed by a rodent last spring when it was over-wintering in my outbuilding.

Yours should still hatch ok, providing that it does not get knocked about by the wind. A fine-mesh cage will protect it from predation and help to baffle the wind.

Vince

Thanks for that Vince. I hope to watch it in the final stages!!
Bob.

Where is the best place to look for Orange Tip pupae (given that they ought to all be at that stage right now)? Dead bracken?

David, the best places for finding Orange-tip pupae are on the dried stems of Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) or the garden plant Honesty (Lunaria annua). The latter has very distinctive seed pods at this time of year.

This was from my garden....
.......and this was found on a local walk.
Vince

I think that Orange Tip is one of the magical species mention by Lewington an Thomas as being impossible to find in the pupal stage, (another being the Holly Blue), I have actually found the pupa of both species fairly often (generally when I was not specifically looking for them!).

The only comment I will add is that it is best not to search too hard as disturbance can often leave the pupa more vulnerable to the eyes of a hungry bird. One thing that does puzzle me is as to where the Orange Tips that have fed on Cuckoo Flower pupate as the places where these plants occur are often submerged for several weeks in winter.

In view of the sunshine today I thought Wakehurst Place would be a good bet for Red Admirals. I wasn't wrong with two being seen feeding on Daphne Bholua in separate areas.

Vince Massimo wrote:David, the best places for finding Orange-tip pupae are on the dried stems of Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) or the garden plant Honesty (Lunaria annua). The latter has very distinctive seed pods at this time of year.

Thanks, Vince. This presents me with a dilemma. I know where cuckoo flower grows but I don't think I can nail down a spot where Garlic Mustard is definitely present (usually, OTs lay their eggs on the former so this is what I generally keep my eye on).

Situation in Central Europe: very usual. Either freezing or snowing, sometimes snow with the rain.

Went to work for 8 hours today and found my car almost disappeared under that white crap. After some time of swearing and raking the snow off, I finally found some windscreens...

No Red Admirals to be on flight in the on-coming days. Unless they buy a little pair of skies.

A report via Facebook...my friend's fiancee photographed a "Comma at a window" in Worthing today. I'm not sure if it was active or hibernating, but she said it was "the earliest butterfly" she'd ever seen, so presumably active. Apparently it wasn't wearing skis so undoubtedly not of continental origin

Cheers,

Gibster.

I'm pretty sure any active butterflies over the past few days will shortly be rendered inactive as much colder weather pushes in from the east.

Swansea started off gloriously this morning, but degenerated swiftly into bitter cold which is set to last into next week.

One of the things that has frustrated me most over the past 3 years is the propensity of the weather to provide pressure systems in winter that would be gloriousy advantageous during summer, only for summer to default to an Atlantic-based cold front stereotype that sees the UK far too oft wet, windy and cool.

Imagine for a moment that the conditions below were to prevail for a couple of weeks during June or July? No doubt we'd have 23c+ temperatures practically everywhere along with dry, anti-cyclonic conditions utterly conducive to the welfare of butterflies generally.

Please God can we not allow such a system as the one depicted to dominate during mid-summer 2013?

Agreed!
There have been several such set-ups this winter,which is why there have been several cold snaps.
Nothing remotely similar last summer,though!

A synoptic chart like that would be extremely unusual in July (an active low centred just to the north of Greece would be almost unheard of at that time of year), and if it occured the strong northeast winds would bring damp and chilly low cloud well inland off the relatively cool North Sea to spoil the party. However, I agree that some decent anticyclonic weather and a nice summer version of a blocking High would go down a treat for a change. Settled weather in winter always seems a poor substitute, and when we get unseasonal warm spells at the wrong time of year, that seems a cheat as well. The start of October 2011 had summer heatwave temperatures up to 30 degrees - but there was hardly a butterfly left to enjoy it, and the days were only eleven hours long. By contrast, having a day of grey drizzle on 21st June seems a dreadful waste of the longest day.

But this is the British climate, where you can look out the window on any day and not be able to tell by the weather alone whether it's June or December.

Dave

Small Tortoiseshell flew over the garden this morning. By far the earliest in the year that I have seen a butterfly in North East Lancashire. The only previous butterfly seen so far this year was a Peacock in the middle of Venice on 16 February.

I see from Facebook that an orange tip has been seen already!

Susie wrote:I see from Facebook that an orange tip has been seen already!

Amazing given how cold February has been.

Swansea has been bereft of sunshine for almost a week now although I believe it was sunny and 13c in Keswick today so no doubt there ARE butterflies on the wing (although nobody expected Orange Tips).