Padfield

[NickMorgan]

I can see a striking resemblance between Stan and his mum!!

[Padfield]

I think all my purple protégés have quite a strong family resemblance, Nick!

Here's something you don't see every day - two purple emperor eggs on the same leaf:



I don't have any good pictures of them because they were a little above my head and I had to pull down the whole branch with one hand while photographing with the other - so no hand to steady the leaf. But from what I did get it would appear they are about the same age:





It will be interesting to see what happens when they hatch ...

Kenny and Stan's Mum were both still fine:





In a different part of the woods I saw yet another female purple emperor.

Here is a first instar white admiral caterpillar. When I first found it it was on the flesh of the leaf but even though I didn't touch anything it quickly became aware of my presence and beat a quick retreat onto its leaf extension:







No great adventures in the mountains today because I had a slow puncture and had broken my cheap, plastic tyre levers. So a local day, with a trip to the bike shop in the evening ...

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Padfield said that he

....had broken my cheap, plastic tyre levers

I used to use kitchen forks or spoons. Forks were better as you could "lock" into the spokes.

Jack

[Padfield]

I agree Jack - table forks with rounded ends to the handle make excellent tyre levers. I was, however, cutting a long story short in what I said above. I recently had a nail through my tyre, which damaged the inner tube so much I decided not to repair it. Instead, I replaced it with an old inner tube rescued from a previous bike (breaking the tyre lever in the process). This kept pressure for a few hundred km but then started going down and I have a feeling it is just too old, having been slung over a door handle for some years. So it wasn't just new levers I wanted but a whole new inner tube. I zoom down mountains with a dog in my backpack almost every day in the summer and I can't afford to have dodgy tyres or tubes!

The new levers claim to be incassable. We will see. They only sell plastic levers these days, perhaps because wheel rims aren't quite what they used to be ...

While I was in the shop I noticed an ingenious new (I think) design of inner tube that instead of being a continuous ring has two 'ends'. This means it can be fitted without removing the wheel. I bought the cheap, normal kind though. Not removing the wheel would save all of a minute, at the outside.

Guy

[Kip]

It's a wise man who doesn't want to end up with Olympic level biking accidents, (poor lass!)

Guy, sorry but will you have another look at my errant erebia??

[Padfield]

It's a wise man who doesn't want to end up with Olympic level biking accidents, (poor lass!)

It's a foolish man who doesn't learn from his mistakes, Paul! I've had one nasty bike accident and that's enough ...

Kenny and Stan's Mum were both just about keeping their heads above water this morning. Well, Kenny was:



Stan's Mum was seeing how long she could hold her breath:



Guy

[Padfield]

Having missed both large copper and black hairstreak when I visited Geneva earlier in the year, I went back today to try for the second brood of the coppers. After two hours searching at two different sites I had almost given up hope when I spotted a corner of a field full of their favourite yellow flowers. Without any real hope, assuming I was too early for this brood too, I checked it out and was almost immediately rewarded with a fresh, male large copper:





Altogether I saw probably four males there - all fresh - and no females. Clouds covered the sun soon after I saw the first individual but the butterflies stayed flying and I got some pictures despite the dull weather:





Yes - that is a hitchhiker clinging on to his wing :



So 2016 won't be the year I didn't see dispar!

At the same site, though not at the same place as the coppers, short-tailed blues were flying. This is a female:



Other species seen included Glanville fritillary, violet fritillary, silver-washed fritillary, knapweed fritillary, various skippers and whites, a very few blues and lots of Satyrids, including gatekeepers - a species that doesn't fly anywhere near me in Switzerland:



I broke the cycled ride back to Geneva at a popular picnic spot where Minnie likes to clear up after the barbecues. As I'd only really called in for her - it was wholly overcast by this time - I let her check out all the ones not currently in use. She had great fun and got thoroughly black in the process!







Guy

[Padfield]

I was going to head up for Erebia nivalis today, to try and photograph females, but when my alarm went at 05h50 this morning the forecast had changed to mostly cloudy for that region. Last year I discovered that the precise area where nivalis flies is particularly prone to clouding over, even when the sky is clear everywhere else. So I took an extra hour's snooze and got up late. My changed plan for the day was to go to the Simplon area, as I haven't seen Darwin's heath yet this year. This butterfly, now a subspecies, flies in its pure form only south of the Simplon but there are very good approximations to be found all over the region.

It wasn't until we reached Brig, and I bought a few provisions, that I realised I had left my camera at home! This is not the first time this has happened and it doubtless won't be the last, but it changed things. I resolved to see what I could catch on my iPhone.

At first, it seemed I wouldn't catch much, because nothing much seemed to be flying. But as I climbed, more came out to play and it became a worthwhile trip. I saw no swallowtails or Apollos all day, and very few whites, but mountain clouded yellows were common and I saw a single clouded yellow too at altitude. For the blues, the commonest by far was Idas. There were a few mazarine and one or two Eros thrown in but no cranberry or glandon, which was surprising. Plenty of shepherd's fritillaries were on the wing, mostly looking rather worn, and a few mountain fritillaries, looking brighter. I saw no flemales of this species. I think mountain fritillary must fly slightly later than shepherd's as I know it flies here in good numbers. Other fritillaries seen were Grisons (a handful, looking rather past it), Niobe (at one spot two males were sparring conspicuously) and Cynthia's. Though I say it myself, I'm getting very good at finding this last butterfly. It's a question of getting into the mindset of the males - I know exactly the kinds of places they like to show off in. Several Erebia species were flying, and in good numbers. Commonest was Swiss brassy ringlet, closely followed by large ringlet. Also flying were mnestra, epiphron and melampus. As expected, there was a wide range of variation in alpine heath/Darwin's heath, including some very close to pure darwiniana. I saw my first large grizzled skippers of the year and plenty of silver-spotted skippers.

All these pictures were taken on my iPhone. It made life much harder than using my dedicated butterfly camera but at least I have a record of the day.


(a group of Idas blues with a water ringlet)


(one of the Idas blues)


(the water ringlet)


(mountain clouded yellow)


(mountain clouded yellows - female wings open)


(large ringlet, form adyte)




(small mountain ringlet)


(Swiss brassy ringlet with Idas blues)


(same again)


(darwiniana)


(gardetta/darwiniana intermediary)


(large grizzled skipper)


(Cynthia's fritillary)


(Minnie beneath the Simplon bird)

The cycle ride from Simplon to Brig is entirely downhill. I didn't have to pedal once except when restarting from a stop - notably the ten minute tunnel stop just below Simplon. It's a wonderful feeling, letting off the brakes and just cruising, for the best part of an hour. As always, cars slowed down behind me and I saw lots of phones being held up taking pictures of Minnie in her backpack as they passed. There must be several hundred people by now who have treasured shots from the day they saw a happy dog sailing down a hill with the wind in her ears.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

There must be several hundred people by now who have treasured shots from the day they saw a happy dog sailing down a hill with the wind in her ears.

You and your dog! Minnie's adventures always give me a smile.

Our own Minnie (cat) seemed to have brought in an unidentified brown/black rodent: well that's what it looked like through my bleary eyes in the half light of dawn.
My good lady pointed out that it was one of Minnie's toys

Jack

[Padfield]

Glad to give you a smile, Jack. And glad to hear Minnie's namesake is having harmless fun in a distant, but not dissimilar, land!

Here is a short video of a Swiss brassy ringlet with Idas blues and a northern Brown argus (I don't know why it has no sound - it had no sound on the iPhone either, while my other videos all did):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIDTUbhhl3s[/video]

Guy

EDIT - the video link doesn't seem to work, though the URL embedded is the correct one. You can go directly to the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIDTUbhhl3s

[William]

Though I say it myself, I'm getting very good at finding this last butterfly. It's a question of getting into the mindset of the males - I know exactly the kinds of places they like to show off in.

I wish I could say the same - excellent pictures Guy - one day! It's interesting what you say about Glandon Blues (and Cranberry), they're both species that I never encountered in the French Alps despite lots of searching, but found with very little effort in Zermatt. Scarce Copper was nowhere to be seen on my two week walk, and then I saw 50 on my first stroll out of the door there. The distribution of a lot of butterflies in the Alps sometimes seems a tad random - perhaps the high altitudes provide an obstacle for dispersal of low altitude species, preventing a more uniform pattern - certainly very striking!

BWs,

William

[David M]

I wish I could leave my main camera at home and still get shots like those, Guy!

[Padfield]

Hi William. Normally, glandon and cranberry blue do fly all over the Simplon region, and I have had no difficulty finding them elsewhere this summer. I don't know where they all were yesterday ... You are right that many butterflies have difficulty dispersing in the Alps. That is what makes it so fantastic - why each mountain can have its own distinct forms of the upland butterflies. But most of them got there in the first place, of course, by following the glacier line first north and then up the mountains as warmer climes spread. Hence the presence of many distinctly alpine species in Scandinavia - those are the ones that carried on heading north instead of following the snowline up the mountains. I'm quite sure you knew this already - my point is just that current possibilities for dispersion don't necessarily correspond with current distributions.

Assuming you have a smartphone, David, I'm equally sure you could get pictures like mine if you left home without your main camera! You do have a smartphone, don't you? Even my octagenarian parents do ...

Speaking of which, I'm off to see them tomorrow, so I won't find out what happens when two purple emperor eggs/caterpillars hatch on the same leaf. Today, one of them was in the same state as a few days ago, while the other one looked rather weird. The dark colour had migrated to the top but there was no real evidence of a fully formed caterpillar inside. Here are the two eggs:





Kenny and Stan's Mum were both fine. I won't see either again now until they are 2nd instar, if they make it that far.





The woods are now full of white admiral caterpillars. For those who haven't yet seen these, now is by far the easiest time to find them. You don't have to look - just quickly scan honeysuckle and they jump out at you. I found far more than I could photograph today. Here are just a few:




(five leaves in that picture have evidence of cats, though not all actually have them now)





&c. They are all over the place.

Guy

[David M]

Assuming you have a smartphone, David, I'm equally sure you could get pictures like mine if you left home without your main camera! You do have a smartphone, don't you? Even my octagenarian parents do ..

Nope. Hate them, Guy. I equally eschew SatNav, Twitter, Facebook, selfies and many other abhorrent trends of the 21st Century.

Digital cameras are a different matter, though (just to prove I'm not a complete Luddite!)

[Jack Harrison]

David M:

I equally eschew SatNav, Twitter, Facebook, selfies and many other abhorrent trends of the 21st Century.

Snap.

Jack

[Padfield]

David M:

I equally eschew SatNav, Twitter, Facebook, selfies and many other abhorrent trends of the 21st Century.

Snap.

I kind of guessed as much, David! And not such a surprise coming from Jack either ... So I guess you two will just have to make sure you never do forget your camera then!

There have been a lot of posts mentioning a lack of small coppers this year, apart from Hoggers's amazing, irradiated supercoppers at Dungeness. Well, they're all over the Suffolk sandling heaths too. They were flying by the dozen yesterday evening when I went out for a quick bike ride. This one was among many preparing to roost in the heather in the Rendlesham complex of woods and heaths:



Guy

[Matsukaze]

I think I know that site - we surveyed its ants some years back when I was doing a course through the Field Studies Council at Flatford Mill. As I remember, there were loads of Myrmica sabuleti to be found there. Nice to see Small Coppers are doing well somewhere in the country, as I only saw my first of the year here last week.

[Jack Harrison]

Huh! Small Copper at Rendlesham! What about the UFOs Guy?

Jack

[Neil Freeman]

Hmmm...Irradiated supercoppers at Dungeness, UFOs at Rendlesham. I think I have spotted the link as to why they are doing well at the two spots

Cheers,

Neil.

[Matsukaze]

I must admit it has occurred to me from time to time that I should take my moth traps onto the hills around Warminster, mainly to see if the locals could be persuaded that the Thing had returned.