www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

In a word, incredible , what a haul.
And I envy those Q of S. in your earlier posting, if only they would colonise the UK.

Looking forward to more exotica,
Trevor.

Great tally Guy, Saturday(my birthday) was a sunny day here at La Manga but I didn't get out
Sunday and today are overcast with a cold northeast wind, Malaga is 260 miles away, just a bit too far on my bike
I see you got Spanish festoon in Malaga, I don't see them at Alcossebre(north) until the end of March.
Good hunting Guy and safe journey home.
Russ

Thanks Buggy. I agree with you. It's a shame - there were Cetti's exploding all around me and all I could get the camera to were chiff-chaffs!

And thanks Trevor and Russ. I was lucky with the weather. The next morning, as I left for the airport, it was pouring. I've wandered over the hills near Málaga in cloud before and basically, nothing flies - so rain would have been a disaster. I got back yesterday, picked up Minnie and back to school today. It seems like a dream that just two days ago I was watching monarchs swoop majestically around me.

Guy

The same picture of feisthamelii as cropped and processed on my iPad (above) and on my computer (below). It does make a difference. I can probably achieve the same thing on the iPad but I obviously need a little more practice!





Most recent books count this as a good species, not a subspecies of podalirius. They are, in fact, very different. Feisthamelii has longer, more angular, paper white wings. The third bar from the base on the forewing is also more abruptly cut off at the cell, rather than tapering to a point. Here is another shot of the same individual:



Guy

Hugely encouraging to see all your photos of butterflies as I am off to Malaga next week. Yet to see any butterflies here, unsurprising as the weather has been like Venus only colder and with less acidic rain.

I agree with Bugboy Cetti's are more Ruddy coloured. Your unknown Warbler is a definite Willow-Chiff The butterfly shots are just stunning

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Matsukaze. I hope the weather's good for you. If it is, then yes, there's plenty flying in Málaga. There might even be some Ziz knys by the time you go ... These were conspicuously not flying last week.

Thanks, Wurzel. If I ever find myself in Santander again I'll camp out on the jetty and get a Cetti! At Minsmere, not so far from where I live in the UK, you hear Cetti's one at a time. In those urban reed beds in Santander there were loads of them, all bursting into song as if the reeds had a sneezing fit - but invisibly, it seems. On the other hand, I'll probably never visit Santander again. There are far too many other places to visit.

Back in CH it is sunny at the moment but cool. No butterfies have flown on my local walks since getting back.

Guy

Zizeeria would be nice, a real favourite of mine although impossible to photograph as when they have gone to ground they are too small to locate. If I remember rightly you had posted photos of its Indian relatives that were even smaller... The Spanish ones remind me of nothing so much as tiny Maculinea.

You're right, Matsukaze, I have photos of all three Ziz genera from India: Zizeeria, Zizina and Zizula. Of the three, Zizula (Z. hylax) is the tiniest. I wish you good luck with them next week.

In the Rhône Valley today, small tortoiseshells were by far the commonest butterfly. I saw upwards of 20 but wasn't counting. Queens were regular but in smaller numbers - I counted half a dozen - and I saw two red admirals. Spring is not here yet but the natives are getting restless!










Guy

Wow Guy, you have been doing well so far this year. I haven't seen any butterflies flying yet this year and I am having to make do with finding Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells hibernating in various old buildings!

We almost had spring, Snowdrops and Daffs are out, but Doris hit and we're back to 'kind of winter' Oh well at least someone's seeing butterflies to keep our spirits up

Have a goodun

Wurzel

We had strong winds and even some snow on Doris day, Wurzel. In fact, I didn't dare cycle down the hill early this morning because there was still snow on the roads. By 11h00 the snow had all melted and I got out the bike but it was still freezing on the hands - they were completely numb by the time I reached the valley. But of course, we had nothing like you got in the UK. It looked quite terrifying.

Hi Nick. A friend of mine in Germany has recently got into hunting down hibernating brimstones and commas in the wild - he found about 20 brimstones last year. That could give you something else to do while you wait for spring ... Or you could just dream about the wonderful species you've seen on your various foreign trips.

Guy

It's been ages since I've been able to get out and even today I shouldn't really have done, with all the work I was supposed to do. But it was sunny and I hadn't seen a large tortoiseshell yet this year ... What more justification is needed?

My first site, where I saw large tortoiseshells on 12th March last year, turned up nothing except a handful of brimstones (nice to see, as my first of the year). These were males on territorial circuits, only stopping high up a slope.

Regulars of my diary might remember I was confused last year by some juvenile white wagtails playing by the water, which I wondered if might be grey wagtails. This adult grey wagtail was there today:



As there were no large tortoiseshells I moved west to another site for the afternoon. Very soon I found one:



That one didn't open up but I went on to see at least four more, some of which did. Unfortunately, they were being constantly harassed by small tortoiseshells so good pictures were hard to get.





It is always strange to see small tortoiseshells mobbing large. The large tortoiseshells are elegant, graceful and obviously superior but the persistent little ones still seem to get their way in the end.

Lots of brimstone on the sallow:





And here with a passenger:



Other new species for the year were comma and eastern Bath white:




(the only one I saw, and it didn't hang around for photos)

Oh - and there were, of course, Queen of Spain fritillaries around too ...



I had to leave the site before 15h00, just as things were beginning to hot up. This is a later spring in Switzerland than some recently but it does seem to be getting under way now.

Guy

Lovely to see so many butterflies with the sun shining on them. I have only seen one butterfly so far this year.

I personally would miss a week's work to go looking for Large Tortoiseshells, Guy, although admittedly I'd have to go abroad to do so.

Nice Brimstone images in particular, and things MUST be late in Switzerland if folk over here are seeing Commas before you.

Great Large Torts Guy I like the way you just happen to throw in that there were QoS around as well, they're such common folk, almost riff-raff

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Nick, David and Wurzel.

It's been beautiful here during the week, when I was working, and cloudy this weekend - so no more butterfly shots for the moment. I was going to go to Italy today, where the sun was shining and temperatures were forecast in the mid-twenties, but conscience got the better of me - I have too much to do here.

The honeysuckle is in leaf in many parts of the local woods so I spent some time looking for freshly woken white admiral cats. Here is one:



On one honeysuckle I found the remnants of a pupa, which at first I took to be white admiral too:





It's not - I think it most likely to be silver-washed fritillary, which I have previously found crawling onto honeysuckles to change skins. But it raises the question: if white admirals really do pupate on honeysuckle, as the books say, why have I never found the remnants of the pupae when searching for hibernacula in winter? It has been a mystery and an annoyance that in the last few years, whenever I have followed a caterpillar through to pupation, it has disappeared at the last minute and I haven't found the pupa. This has happened so often I can't believe they have all been eaten and it is easy to search a honeysuckle thoroughly. I think they wander off and pupate elsewhere. This might not the the case in the UK, where they use a different species of honeysuckle, but I strongly suspect it is what happens here.

Guy

You appear to be experiencing the same level of frustration as we in the UK, Guy.

I hope the weather plays ball soon for you. After a stormy and wet spell, we look to be in a good position from next Thursday and through the following weekend. Hope the same is true in la Suisse.

Sometimes, when there's a lot to be done, David, poor weather is a blessing ...

School ski races today. I asked one of the kids to take a few shots of Minnie enjoying the ride.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT9ht7g0ZjM[/video]

Again, there was a video link but these don't seem to work, so for a short, 11s clip, see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT9ht7g0ZjM

Guy

This post is just a filler, as I like a new set of photos to be the first post on a page, not the last!

Guy