www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Back with a bang eh, Rex?

That's a tidy haul for the first week in May. Love your Wall Brown pair, a species that I hope to reacquaint myself with within the next few days.

A minimum of 6 Grizzled Skippers found yesterday at Staunton Quarry in north Leicestershire, a new species for myself. All the expected species also seen including Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue and Speckled Wood.

David M wrote:Back with a bang eh, Rex?

That's a tidy haul for the first week in May. Love your Wall Brown pair, a species that I hope to reacquaint myself with within the next few days.

Thanks David.

As I was in the area I popped into Abbots Wood this morning to see how the Pearl-bordered Fritillaries were doing. Numbers are still very low so I would advise anyone looking to go there to wait until numbers have built up to avoid trampling sensitive areas.

Butterflysaurus rex wrote:I was very lucky to find one Pearl that posed nicely for a photo.

Wow. You'll do well to improve on that one over the next few weeks. Great image!

A breezy visit to Hutchinsons Bank near Croydon yesterday was very quiet , until I came across a pristine Small Blue , sheltering down in the grass , my first of the year .

Orange Tip overload at Crymlyn Burrows on the Swansea coast yesterday. The cool weather meant they were far more approachable than normal.

Late afternoon I had a couple of hours at a local Grizzle site,it was hard going ,and after two hours of searching ,I,d only managed 2 ( mind you they were both Abberants !) on the point of calling it a day ,I had another fly-bye so decided to give it another half hour ,
as it flew bye I spotted another small insect ,and was pleased to find a Green Hairstreak ,which I,ve never seen at this site before !
Finally decided to leave and another grizzle flitted by and posed nicely for a few shots .

On an otherwise disappointing morning at Bookham today (11th) I discovered, quite by accident my very first ever Purple Emperor larvae. Better pictures will appear in my PD when I get round to documenting today. I've included my fingers to give an idea of scale (I have normal sized fingers!) So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to 'Padfield' the PE cat (there really was no possible other name to call him/her/it really was there ) As you can see, settled down and all set to moult.

At Dungeness today the warden ,bored with lack of bird action,counted Small Coppers instead ,he had 220 and 15 Grizzled Skippers
Owen Leyshon also reported around forty Coppers on a short walk plus his first Brown Args and Common Blue. (and 2 Beeaters briefly by the boats !)
Regards Allan.W.

bugboy wrote:On an otherwise disappointing morning at Bookham today (11th) I discovered, quite by accident my very first ever Purple Emperor larvae. Better pictures will appear in my PD when I get round to documenting today. I've included my fingers to give an idea of scale (I have normal sized fingers!) So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to 'Padfield' the PE cat (there really was no possible other name to call him/her/it really was there )
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As you can see, settled down and all set to moult.

Brilliant find, Paul, and the perfect name! Looks like it's about to moult into the final instar.

Cheers,

- Pete

bugboy wrote:So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to 'Padfield' the PE cat ...

I'm truly honoured - thank you Buggy!

Long live Padfield (bearing in mind, of course, the potential tragedy that awaits all purple emperor cats, as I know only too well!).

You'll go on and find loads more now. Fortunately there are plenty of UK Butters to name them after!

Guy

PS - I check your PD most days and I still can't find these further pictures - am I being stupid?
PPS - when he's finished changing his skin he might move. Sometimes they go a long way, especially if the aspect and shade where they were is more suited to an early-stage larva than a late-stage one. But survival in 5th instar is quite high, so be patient and look carefully for him.

Allan.W. wrote:Late afternoon I had a couple of hours at a local Grizzle site,it was hard going ,and after two hours of searching ,I,d only managed 2 ( mind you they were both Abberants !)

Wow! That's one hell of a sighting, Allan. Absolute belter!

bugboy wrote:On an otherwise disappointing morning at Bookham today (11th) I discovered, quite by accident my very first ever Purple Emperor larvae. Better pictures will appear in my PD when I get round to documenting today. I've included my fingers to give an idea of scale (I have normal sized fingers!) So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to 'Padfield' the PE cat (there really was no possible other name to call him/her/it really was there .

Well done, BB...on the name as well as the sighting! Like Guy says, if you get chance take a look again and see if you can track him/her down again!

Allan.W. wrote:At Dungeness today the warden ,bored with lack of bird action,counted Small Coppers instead ,he had 220...

Utterly amazing statistic. Surely this must be the best site in the UK for this species?

Pearl-bordered Fritillary have been a bit late this year so instead of Bentley I thought I’d chance my butterflying at Butser Hill again. I’d been there on the 22nd of April in fine weather but had jumped the gun a bit. All I got were Brimstones and another yellow insect, the dung fly (the farmer had released his cattle on the site). On the way out were two sparring Grizzled Skippers but they weren’t prepared to break off for a photo.

The weather at Butser was decidedly gloomy, but it didn’t take long to find a Duke though not in the best of condition. Not too long after that I spotted a Grizzlie but as I raised my camera to line it up in the viewfinder it managed to disappear . The next butterfly a Dingy Skipper was more obliging as were a couple more ‘tidier’ Dukes. I also came across Cinnabar moths and Pyraust aurata and nigrata but finding another Grizzled skipper was proving difficult thanks largely to the grey skies and cooling temperatures. Just as I was on the verge of packing up I spotted what looked like a grass seed head in a plantain flower. Looking through my camera viewfinder revealed a roosting Grizzled skipper …. showing its underside too . The insect was so cold it was easy to move it onto my finger, transfer it to a flower where it opened its wings then move it back where it came from. Then as if on cue, it started to rain. My day finished with a soaking and the obligatory lung-busting climb out of the ‘bowl’ that is Butser but it had been well worth it . Phil

Padfield wrote:

bugboy wrote:So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to 'Padfield' the PE cat ...

I'm truly honoured - thank you Buggy!

Long live Padfield (bearing in mind, of course, the potential tragedy that awaits all purple emperor cats, as I know only too well!).

You'll go on and find loads more now. Fortunately there are plenty of UK Butters to name them after!

Guy

PS - I check your PD most days and I still can't find these further pictures - am I being stupid?
PPS - when he's finished changing his skin he might move. Sometimes they go a long way, especially if the aspect and shade where they were is more suited to an early-stage larva than a late-stage one. But survival in 5th instar is quite high, so be patient and look carefully for him.

I'm about 5 days behind with my reports Guy so further pictures wont appear until the middle of next week which is why I stuck him on the sightings thread (bearing in mind, as you say, this might be the only time I can find him, I can't get to bookham as often as you can check your lot).

I could see his travels on the small branch he was on, nibbled leaves all over the place that were clearly done by quite a large pair of jaws!

Quick update on Padfield the PE cat, I can happily report moulting was successful (I'm standing over him as I type this on my phone)

The Peacock laying a nice bunch of eggs, already posted by B'Rex, but again here just to illustrate a point that nothing in nature is easy. The eggs this morning I checked on and found a nasty little creature laying its own eggs into the Peacock eggs.

badgerbob wrote:The Peacock laying a nice bunch of eggs, already posted by B'Rex, but again here just to illustrate a point that nothing in nature is easy. The eggs this morning I checked on and found a nasty little creature laying its own eggs into the Peacock eggs.


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Hi Bob, did you actually see that insect laying eggs? That insect looks like, to my eyes at least, a juvenile Hemipteran bug which if so, wouldn't be laying eggs. That's not to say the eggs are safe from it though, it would most likely be quite happy to suck the contents out of a few of the eggs.