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That's a stunning Red Admiral Bugboy, the ones I've seen so far have been well worn it's great to have your own Goldie

That Red Admiral is a lovely insect, Buggy, and interesting for it to be an ab. of sorts - I've never seen one with the white spot ringed like that. Extra for that I think!

From what I remember of rearing Peacocks, they tend to emerge between dawn and around nine in the morning. Not the best time if you need to get off for work! As yours are out before midsummer, I wonder if they'll breed again rather than hibernate... Plenty of time to fit in another brood.

Cheers,

Dave

The Red Admiral is gorgeous Bugboy I totally get what you mean - that tiny little spot is surprisingly eye catching

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Thanks Guys, it really was a stunning insect and had it's picture taken many dozens of times

So far the Peacocks are emerging (most unhelpfully I might add) between midnight and dawn

June 2020
Tuesday 9th. Cloudy with sunny spells meant I had to grab what I could on my lunchtime wander, Speckled Wood, Meadow Browns and Large Skippers were the only things I saw. Thursday 11th was a bit overcast but still warm enough to venture out for a few hours in the afternoon and I’m glad I did. A few Whites flitted around, from what I could see they were all Small and seemed to be the start of a second brood. Next came the stars of the afternoon, a cluster of three freshly minted Hutchinsoni Comma’s looking resplendent in the bright, overcast lighting. Around the corner I found a fourth whom I spent a bit of time admiring and around another corner, sat right on the edge of the path, I found a mating pair of Large Skipper so that’s another species to tick of the ‘in-cop’list . Whites and Meadow Browns flitted around, none of whom had any intention of settling despite the mostly overcast conditions. But a return walk along a Bramble edged path with the accompaniment of some breaks in the cloud cover gave me some more Hutchinsoni, a trio of very active Large Skipper, a Small Tortoiseshell (I can’t remember the last time I saw so many Small Torts in a season) and a fresh female Small White. Looks like the June gap on my patch is coming to an end thankfully

Friday 12th. I didn’t go out today but did take a few shots of the Holly Blue larvae currently living on my living room window shelf. I wasn’t sure how many I had, I just picked a few shoots. Over the days looking closely I reckoned I had four or five but upon taking a few pics I had to increase that estimate to eight or nine. For everyone I focused on there seemed to be a second photo bombing in the background. Spot the larvae, there's two in each picture Stay safe

A really nice selection there Bugboy , I've yet to see the fresh new Comma's Goldie

Those H.Commas are pretty spectacular Bugboy - gorgeous when in mint condish Good news about the Small Torts as well I had fun with the cat spotting - I found the trick is to let your eyes unfocus a bit like when you're doing those 'magic eye' 3D pictures - it worked really well, as well as seeing the cats I also found a speedboat and a great white shark

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Thank Goldie, those Comma's have only just started to appear so they'll be out up north in the coming weeks
Thanks Wurzel, Sounds like you've been on the old vino if you can see all that in my photos

June 2020
Saturday 13th. At work there were just singletons of Small White and Speckled Wood. At home the Holly Blue larvae were quite active and I managed a few shots showing the normally hidden head. I’ve also noticed that to moult they move to the leaves. When you think about it it’s an obvious thing to do, the flower heads don’t provide much in the way of a safe platform and each individual flower only lasts a couple of days. Before going to bed I noticed the first of my Peacock pupae was just starting to darken off and you could just make out the wing pattern starting to show through. Sunday 14th. I had better luck at work today, I went over to the car park which always does better and found a few Large Skipper. Some Meadow Brown were also flitting around but would only settle deep in the long grass. That evening my peacock pupae had darkened up significantly and another couple were catching up. I stayed up till after midnight but they hadn’t so much as twitched by the time I eventually went to bed.

Nah I'm strictly a CAMRA man me

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Well I knew there was something making you see weird stuff in my Pictures Wurzel!

June 2020
Monday 15th. I woke up early this morning and immediately checked my Peacock pupae to find two freshly emerged Peacock waiting for me. A few more looked close but not close enough, they hadn’t twitched by the time I left for a few hours on the marshes, the two emergent’s safely stored away for release. The plan was to take a few snaps of the freshly emerged Peacocks but they had other ideas, their little toes didn’t even touch the floor and all I got was a view of two Peacock rear ends fluttering over the hedge . Oh well, still 12 more to go.

It wasn’t just my Peacocks that had started to emerge, there were good numbers of SmEssex Skippers around, closer examination seemed to prove that Essex outnumbered Smalls by some margin, perhaps 5-1. All things being equal I would expect the ratio to be a lot closer, especially since I saw my first Small Skipper here only a week ago but I suspect it may be something to do with the LHP preferences for them. Essex prefer Cock’s-foot which is a large sturdy grass which looks (at least to me) better able to withstand dry conditions. Small Skippers preference for Yorkshire Fog and Timothy, both smaller grasses (possibly with shallower roots) which look less able to cope with extended dry conditions, might have meant there was a higher fatality rate this spring during the mini drought which seems to have had a particularly harsh effect on my patch.

Apart from the Skippers, some very active Meadow Browns and a good handful of fresh Small white there wasn’t a great deal else about. A single Common Blue flyby and a Small Tort who was out of reach stuffing its face in a bramble patch provided a bit of variety. Looking through Goat’s-rue (I needed some fresh stuff for the Holly Blue larvae at home and I was trying to find bits that the local Holly Blue’s hadn’t already sniffed out) I came across a wonderful looking ladybird larvae. This is what a 24-spot Ladybird looks like before it grows up. Increased cloud cover after lunch helped to calm some targets down and also brought out the colour on this gorgeous Small Tortoiseshell The day was also notable for finding a further four more Peacock larval webs making a total of eight so far this year without even searching for them. My 15 will be a drop in the ocean I think in a few weeks time!

I got home to find another three Peacocks had emerged whilst I was out. I left releasing them until the early evening when a bit of late sun returned, hoping they’d sit for me but no, exactly the same thing happened as the first two .

I also transferred the Holly Blue larvae over onto fresh Goat’s-rue and once again had to adjust the amount I am actually looking after. After going through it with a fine-tooth comb I discovered 19 of them, representing all instars I think. I left the old stuff on some white paper and found another two later in the evening, locating them via poo trails. I knew they liked this stuff but I really didn’t imagine I would find that many. It’ll be interesting to see how many have fallen victim to the Listrodomus Ichneumon.

Stay safe

Some lovely photos Bugboy but the Small Tortoiseshell is particularly nice.

I will be very interested to hear about the predation rates with those Holly Blues. When does the wasp lay its egg on the host? I wonder how they locate the host - no good hanging around holly bushes, clearly!.

Cheers,

Dave

Hi! Bugboy, I've not seen one Holly Blue at my local CP this year yet, it's making me wonder why!! I've blamed the weather but I'm not sure it's that. Goldie

Cracking report Bugboy - it's great when the Smessex are out although visits to the chiropractor often follow their arrival That Peacock is a lush shot just like a charred wooden block

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

That's a great Ladybird larva Buggy. Never seen one like that before - come to think of it I don't think I've seen a Ladybird with 24 spots. How common are they?

So pleased your Peacocks are starting to successfully emerge, Paul. It's always satisfying when you rear early stages to adulthood.

That's some ratio between Essex and Small Skipper. I don't think I've ever been anywhere with even a 50%+1 advantage to Essex, let alone 5:1. Perhaps your theory regarding the larval preferences is correct.

Thanks Otep, its not a butterfly I can ever walk past anymore, if they were as rare as a High Brown Fritillary imagine how far people would travel!
Thanks Dave, the eggs are laid in early instar larvae, at least that's what a Mr Eeles says in a certain recent publication . They certainly wouldn't find any on Holly round round here, there is no Holly! It's all Dogwood and Goat's-rue on my patch in the spring although I have seen the odd female also sniffing around Bramble flower buds.
I'm sure some will turn up Soon Goldie
Thanks Wurzel, I did some more pilates & Yoga moves to get the shots below, at least that's what my story was gonna be if I was questioned as to what I was up to
Thanks Pauline, I've actually never seen that larvae before myself although the adults do turn up pretty regularly. They're quite common but rather small, here's one on a nettle where you can get an idea of its size by comparing it to the stinging hairs on the leaf. Thanks David, yes it's been a few years since I've reared some caterpillars, takes me back to my boyhood summer holidays where I had perminantly numb fingers from all the nettle I used to pick . I was reading up on them in Neil and Micheal's butterflies of Sussex and Neil clearly states that Essex have a strong preference for dryer habitats so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised with the ratio I found.

June 2020
Tuesday 16th. Another morning and another load of Peacock’s waiting to be released, seven had emerged overnight this time, I got up at 6am today but still missed the emergence of them al l. Since I was up early, I thought I’d release them now and hope they’d sit. This time they were a lot more relaxed and I managed a selection of (ahem) carefully posed shots before one by one they all fluttered off . One of them had a slightly aberrant left forewing, almost like a photocopying error where the bottom half of the black spot on the centre front margin didn’t connect to the top half giving the impression of an extra spot. Interestingly it wasn’t symmetrical. Once that was all over it was off to Epping Forest again. Small Heath were still numerous and numbers of Large Skipper were also increasing but interestingly, the only Thymelicus was the Small Skipper, but then the grass here is significantly lusher and the Yorkshire Fog doesn’t seem to have been too badly affected by the lack of rain. Meadow Browns were numerous too, mostly males and mostly fresh so still some way from peak emergence here. Also seen was my first Green-veined White for a few weeks, a couple of frisky Small Tortoiseshell and a handful of fresh Hutchinsoni Comma. Near the end of my walk I did a spot of birding at the lake with the highlight watching a Great-crested Grebe fishing, popping up quite close to me with a bit of a mouthful! I think it was a Rudd but I’m not too hot on fish id.

Those are cracking Peacock images Bugboy - were you a fashion photographer in a previous life? I was very glad I saw that Small Skipper image as I saw a very similar image on the Wiltshire branch FB page - labelled as an Essex - so I questioned it - and got my wrist slapped as it had been identified as an Essex by the County recorder no less - so seeing yours correctly labelled means I can carry confident in my ability to ID Smessex

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Lovely to see those three emergent Peacocks lined up like that, Paul. How do they always seem to escape the pupal case when we humans are not looking though?

Commas, Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals are all currently about in good numbers, so I expect Peacocks will be about in similar numbers very soon and they will be a welcome addition to the already wide array of insect colour right now.

Good to see your Peacocks made it through OK bugboy and I love the shot of the three lines up like that

Cheers,

Neil.

Very remiss of me Paul but one of the most memorable shots in your diary for me is the Great Spotted Woodpecker at its nest. I would have liked to have seen more of them. Years ago I took a shot of one of the youngsters being fed and when looking at the image realised the tongue was extended and as I'm sure you know they have incredible tongues.