www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Those Small blues were a great find Kev - it's great when something turns up unexpectedly Fingers crossed for those Silver-studs, butterflies are often more resilient/tougher than we give them credit for

Have a goodun

Wurzel

You're taking in both ends of the spectrum there, Kev. Faded Small Blues giving way to fresh Torties and SSBs.

Still a lot to look forward to.

After a good deal of travelling in search of Butterflies, I have been catching up with activity at home. I have not been disappointed. A year ago I planted some Buckthorn whips and very soon had over twenty larva on them. I'm pleased to say that I have had more success this year, as I witnessed a Brimstone laying at least five eggs. I will look forward to watching them develop.
I had thinned out some of my Garlic Mustard, but was still left with plenty on flower this spring. Female Orange Tip activity has been good and I counted at least a dozen eggs, of which a quarter have made it to pupation. What is interesting is that they are in both brown and green form, something I would be interested in knowing why the reason for. Two of them have also pupated on their larval food plant. I was expecting them to move on to somewhere else. A little repositioning has enabled me to get a photo of two together, demonstrating the differing colour forms. Regards
Kev

Interesting to see the two different colour forms What's happening with the bottom of the pupal case in shot 3?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel, generally when the larva pupates, the head detaches and drops to the floor. In this case it has remained stuck to the pupal case.

Regards Kev

Brilliant cheers for the info - I think I can see the old 'eyes' now

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Your investment has been rewarded with those buckthorn whips, Kev. I am going to try and source some myself to see if I can do likewise.

Nice shots of the pupae Kev. Its rewarding when you get deeper into their life cycle.
Chris

You've done well with those Orange Tip pupae, Kev. I've never yet managed to find one!

Cheers,

Dave

Dave, Dave, Chris, Wurzel: Thanks for the comments. I have struggled getting up close and personal with adult Orange Tip butterflies this year, but struck it lucky with their offspring


Brimstone Larva Predation
A contact of mine has been updating me on the progress of Brimstone larva on her Buckthorn. She slowly noticed a reduction of larva and assumed it was down to small birds. However on two separate occasions she has seen wasps go in and take the larva. My question is whether this is recognised predatory behaviour as i have never heard of this before.

Regards
Kev

kevling wrote:...A contact of mine has been updating me on the progress of Brimstone larva on her Buckthorn. She slowly noticed a reduction of larva and assumed it was down to small birds. However on two separate occasions she has seen wasps go in and take the larva. My question is whether this is recognised predatory behaviour as i have never heard of this before.

Nor have I, Kev. I presume these are early instar larvae, because late instar ones would be pretty sizeable for a wasp to carry away?

Ramsey Wood - Near Ipswich

I visited my local Silver Washed Fritillary patch at the weekend, where numbers were building nicely. I saw 15 in total including a female and this lovely example, which I think is ab Confluens Kind Regards
Kev

I have known wasps to be a big problem, and take large Indian Moon moth larvae that were sleeved on Apple, and once they learn where they are they keep coming back for more, and being wasps they can chew though netting and wood.

A fully grown Brimstone larva would be an easy meal for a wasp, at least in some areas the hornets are keeping the wasp population down, but they also are taking Butterflies etc.

That is a cracking aberrant Kev Stunning Great find.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great ab SWF, Kev. There seem to have been a few this year (along with White Admiral abs).

At last Easter weekend and I have some limited time off work to enjoy the garden. With Millie the spaniel needing a walk, I have a quiet route planned to hopefully bag my first Orange Tip on the wing. I say on the wing, because I have already seen my first one of the year, albeit in pupal form in my back garden. If you look carefully, the orange markings of a male seem to be showing themselves. The above is the first of two I have in my garden. This next one was taken last week and hasn't really come on any further in the meantime. I will be keeping a close eye on both of them in the coming days when I am at home. Hope you all get plenty of visitors to your gardens too.

Regards
Kev

Great shots Kev I'm pretty envious of anyone that has a garden at the moment , if it wasn't for exercise walks I'd have gone loony tunes already How did you find those OT pupae?

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel,

I was lucky enough to have several eggs laid on my Garlic Mustard. With the help of some fine netting, I managed to protect the final instar caterpillars from predation and kept an eye on where they pupated. No after many months of waiting, I hoep to see my first ever Orang Tip hatch.

Kind regards
Kev

Great work Kev - I hope you get to catch the emergence, I've got my fingers crossed for you

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Good luck with the Orange Tip pupae, Kev. If you get to see them emerge, at least that's one way of being able to safely photograph them instead of watching them fly endlessly.