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Denbies, 12th August 2012, continued from previous page.
So when i arrived at the correct location i found both eggs were still there plus an additional egg had been freshly laid, probably by another female S.S.S. The two eggs i had found originally having turned a light brown in colour. The second photo was taken the previous week, but as you can see in the picture the female Silver-Spotted Skipper has attached the egg to the stem of grass with a gluey substance.In the third photo the freshly laid egg is attached to two stems of grass, which seems to have been stuck together in two places by the same gluey substance that the female Silver-Spotted Skipper used to stick her egg to the grass stem in the previous photo. Now she has either deliberately adhered the two stems together to give the egg a more secure hold or, are they two failed attempts at egg laying. Has anyone ever witnessed anything like this before?

Really nice work Nick; well done

Though hard to believe a man of your age can have eyesight that good ...

Those SSS eggs are just superb - brilliant observations and amazing pictures. It would be fascinating to see more evidence of whether adjacent grass stems might sometimes be secured together before an egg is laid or if, as you suggest, those bindings represent eggs she didn't lay. I'm a bit disappointed with myself that I didn't follow the last gravid SSS I saw (a couple of weeks ago) to watch her laying her eggs.

Guy

Great photos and observations Nick

When checking the Species-Specific Album I found a photo from Dave Miller which also seems to show an egg attached to one blade of grass, but with silk strands leading to another adjacent blade. I think you are on to something!

Perhaps Dave could enlarge his image and let us know (but post on the the Species Forum in order to avoid cluttering up your diary).

Vince

Posted as requested.

Dave

Hi Mark, Guy and Vince,
thank you for your very generous comments, much appreciated.
It would be fascinating to find more evidence. So lets hope someone can shed some light on the subject in the coming summer,or sooner, maybe someone has similar pictures hiding away somewhere.
Thank you all again, Nick.

Chiddingfold Wood 22nd September 2012
The photo below was taken with a very slow shutter speed, capturing the butterfly sitting on the leaf, then before the shutter closes capturing it as the Speckled Wood flies off in the same frame, giving it this ghostly affect.

Chiddingfold Wood 22nd September 2012
The butterflies in this wood are coming to an end now, and this was to be my last visit this year.This Meadow Brown was the only one seen, along with five Speckled Woods.This one being in the best condition out of them all.

Chiddingfold Wood 22nd September continued
One insect about in good numbers was the Common Darterand the most commonly seen butterfly was the Comma

Chiddingfold Wood 22nd September 2012 continued

Hi Nick,

That's a lovely underside shot of the Comma

I particularly like the way you've managed to capture the ornate turquoise patina; similar to that which forms on copper or copper alloys.

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

Thank you for your kind comment Mark, appreciated.
All the best, Nick.

Chiddingfold Wood 22nd September 2012,This is the last photo taken at my local patch this year, not a very good one but a record shot all the same. The photo was taken into the sun, it was the only way i could get any sort of picture so i used the camera`s built in flash to compensate for this. I believe this Comma to be the ab. O-Album.

The garden 29 September 2012
So now my weekly trips to my local patch had come to an end it was down to the garden for my final flurry of photographing butterflies something i had`nt done all year,and with the weather blowing hot and cold it seemed the sensible thing to do. Relaxing indoors and when a butterfly appeared, a quick dash into the garden to get a photo. Normally four Commas, anywhere between one and three Red Admirals would appear when the sun decied to play ball, and the odd Large White would bless me with its presence.

The garden 29 September 2012 continued

The garden 29 September 2012 continued

hideandseek wrote:Denbies, 12th August 2012, continued from previous page.
So when i arrived at the correct location i found both eggs were still there plus an additional egg had been freshly laid, probably by another female S.S.S. The two eggs i had found originally having turned a light brown in colour.

18.8.2012 Denbies 032 silver-spotted skipper, egg after one week.jpg

The second photo was taken the previous week, but as you can see in the picture the female Silver-Spotted Skipper has attached the egg to the stem of grass with a gluey substance.

12.8.2012 Denbies 019 silver-spotted skipper egg.jpg

In the third photo the freshly laid egg is attached to two stems of grass, which seems to have been stuck together in two places by the same gluey substance that the female Silver-Spotted Skipper used to stick her egg to the grass stem in the previous photo.

18.8.2012 Denbies 077 silver-spotted skipper egg.jpg

Now she has either deliberately adhered the two stems together to give the egg a more secure hold or, are they two failed attempts at egg laying. Has anyone ever witnessed anything like this before?

Interesting. On the two occasions I've seen SSS females ovipositing, they did so by carefully enclosing the ovum inside the tubed folds of the grass leaf. Never seen them laid exposed like that.

Those observations of mine were on the slopes of Box Hill in 1968.

I therefore wonder which is their preferred method, exposed or secreted covertly with the tube of grass?

Hi Cotswold Cockney,
I would say that the SSS`s preferred method of egg laying is exposed, as your observations of a female SSS laying an egg in the folds of a grass leaf in 1968 on Boxhill is very unusual , and something i have never come across whether in the field or in any book i have read. If you have any photos i would be very interested to see them.

Nipped home at midday for some lunch, and saw a Comma in the garden, the latest one i have ever seen, also a very fresh Red Admiral, both nectaring and sunning themselves on the Ivy at the bottom of the garden. Lovely to see a butterfly or two at this time of year.

hideandseek wrote:Hi Cotswold Cockney,
I would say that the SSS`s preferred method of egg laying is exposed, as your observations of a female SSS laying an egg in the folds of a grass leaf in 1968 on Boxhill is very unusual , and something i have never come across whether in the field or in any book i have read. If you have any photos i would be very interested to see them.

No pictures unfortunately. I was sitting eating my packed lunch quietly on some loose scree on a slope with sparse grass growing through the rocks. Suddenly, a female SSS landed on a few blades of grass between my two feet and went through the process of laying in the grass tube as previously described. Had no idea about that until I made that observation. I was eating my last sandwich when the same female or another one flew in and selected a blade of green grass nearby and repeated the trick whilst laying a single ovum.

It was the late afternoon on a superb sunny day in late August.

Skippers or half-moths as i see them ... .... have never attracted my interest to breed them. I could have collected those two eggs and done so but never did.

However, if I ever find myself in some of the hotter states in the US, I would like to see those Giant Skippers which larvae feed inside the trunks of Yucca plants.

I believe these powerful insects are the fastest flying members of the butterfly/moth world. They certainly appear built for speed ... Yucca Giant Skipper. :~