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More instar excitement this evening. In a different part of the woods I discovered Xander, sitting by his discarded skin (what you can see here is the tail skin):





What you can't tell from the photos is that he's just over 1 cm long. In my opinion, he is a fresh third-grader, having spent the winter in 2nd instar. Most years, a number of cats do this (the normal, 'book' behaviour is to hibernate in 3rd instar) but I didn't expect it this year as last year the eggs were laid so early. Why should a caterpillar not go through to 3rd instar? Anyway, this little chap looks like a third-grader and Frohawk states that after the second moult (from 2nd to 3rd instar) the caterpillar is 13.5 mm long, including the horns. He is no longer than that, if that.

Frohawk also states that shortly before the fourth moult (into 5th instar), the caterpillar is 22.5 mm in length, including the horns. Faith is at least 22.5 mm long - I estimate a little longer than that - so she would seem to be laid up for moving into 5th grade. I'm still very confused about this, as she should be nowhere near this stage at the beginning of May. Her friend, Willow, is over an inch (25 mm) long. Here they are this evening:


(Faith)


(Willow)

If they escape the predators, I'll know the truth for certain as they continue to grow up.

White admiral cats are hard to find at the moment. Here is one:



I had to use flash for many of these pictures because of the fading light.

Guy

Flash or no, they are excellent images, Guy. White Admiral exists round my way, but are scarce. Would love to find one of those lovely caterpillars, but probably not a realistic chance, will have to try elsewhere!

Thanks Buzzard! It's a good idea to get your eye in where they are common, preferably with the help of someone who knows how and where to look, and then you'll be able to find them near you, where they are scarcer. Once you get the knack, you can spot them almost with a casual glance.

This morning I went up, to my violet copper sites, just to see how the habitat was progressing. In good years they fly in April - and this has been an exceptionally warm April. It was also an exceptionally hard winter, though, and the sites were mostly snow-bound. The only spring growth anywhere was coltsfoot, crocuses and a few patches of marigolds - not even any new grass, let alone bistort or Ranunculus. I'd say I'm a month too early this year. This is one of the lower sites in the complex:



Higher up, the snow cover was more complete, except on the steepest, south-facing slopes, where it had all either melted or avalanched away - but these are not the kinds of place where violet coppers fly.

Here's something I bet few have seen:



Yes, a green hairstreak sitting on the snow at 1800m. It wasn't an accident - this was a very active butterfly and it chose preferentially to land on the snow. But it looked very lonely against the avalanche backdrop:





Elsewhere, this green hairstreak was behaving a bit more normally, favouring bushes near a more or less snow-free part of the track:



Early in the morning I checked on the two nearest iris cats, Faith and Willow. Willow is now positioned to enter ecdysis too. This picture shows her size. Note that she is in a curved posture, and if stretched out flat would be longer. It is clear she is at least an inch - 25 mm - long. I think this means both she and Faith are primed to enter 5th instar:



Guy

Because it was such an unexpectedly nice day and I had a couple of hours to spare before my next lesson, later this afternoon, I nipped off to a relatively local blues site after coming down from the mountain to look for short-tailed blue. When I arrived, there was almost nothing flying - just a few walls, a sooty copper and a violet fritillary. I thought something terrible must have happened. Then a single female short-tailed blue appeared:





Despite there being very little orange on the underside hindwing - a typical feature of the first brood - she is instantly recognisable as short-tailed, not the commoner Provençal short-tailed, by the blue on the upperside. Provençal short-tailed females never show any blue at all.

A little later, I saw this male:



Other blues that put in an appearance with the short-taileds - after about half an hour of no blues at all - were Chapman's and common.

This is a female Chapman's blue ...



... and this a male common:



In the sky, I witnessed a bit of a clash between a red kite and a buzzard:



I forgot to post this picture of Minnie this morning ...



Guy

Some great images recently Guy, especially the early stages, but my favourite has to be .............the last one!

Wow! You've been ultra busy lately, Guy. Yes, that Green Hairstreak (a particularly striking specimen I must say) sitting on the snow must go down as one of the most incongruous things I've ever seen on here. However, if April has been so warm, how are things that bereft at that altitude? Did you have especially heavy snowfall in the latter part of the winter?

I agree with David Guy, the Greenstreak on the snow You'd think it might have realised that it wasn't exactly blending in with it's surroundings

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi David and Wurzel. Even dirty, avalanche snow like that reflects a lot of radiation. Minimal conductive contact (the butterfly’s feet) and in a nice little hollow it probably gets something of a satellite dish effect. It was leaning over as if to catch all the radiation from surrounding snow. Certainly, it was flighty and had chosen to keep landing on the snow. I agree - it is a rather lovely individual!

Guy

Hi Pauline. I’m glad you like the Minnie picture most! I think you have very good taste.

Guy

Year ticks for today included safflower skipper, Osiris blue, little blue and Iolas blue. Of these I got just one rubbish shot of Osiris, a few scrappy shots of little and no shots of safflower or Iolas, both of which were motoring somewhere at the time!

Here is the Osiris blue:



The little blue appear while I was trying to photograph a Provençal short-tailed blue. It is the blurry whirr:



This is the butterfly itself:



There is no doubt about its identity because it is clearly a male.

Much more amenable and photogenic was this green-underside blue:



As well as a few Dukes I saw my first Duchess of the year:



Here is the Minnie Monster for Pauline ...



At my second site, where I saw the single Iolas blue, I sat in the shade of some sallows, drank beer and watched a Camberwell beauty parading back and forth. It spent long periods sitting on rocks near me or on recently felled poplars:



From its abdomen, it looks like a female, but I find Camberwell beauties often look like females from the side, for some reason. It was very definitely occupying a patch. I think we must have sat there a little over an hour, just drinking in the day (and the beer), when suddenly another Camberwell beauty flew in. Within seconds they had made each other's acquaintance and were clearly very keen on each other. They crashed to the ground, showed each other what they had, then zoomed off to mate somewhere. I never saw my friend again - meaning he or she had scored for sure!







Guy

The blue in that Osiris Blue - it;s like seeing blue for the first time

Have a goodun

Wurzel

When they're fresh, it's a very special blue colour, Wurzel. Unfortunately, that wasn't a very good photo. Try this one, from 2014:



As much for my own records as anything else, here are 5 of my current 6 iris cats this morning. I can't locate Drusilla, who has vacated her old leaf island.

New kid on the block: Principal Snyder.



He is near the top of an isolated sallow. If he makes it to pupation, he will have nowhere to go but stay in this tree:





This is Xander:





Cordelia is still hiding but I can get a glimpse of her from the right angle:



Willow is sleeping deeply, waiting for her next transformation:



Finally, Faith has graduated:



Guy

Fabulous, Guy. Where do I start? The Green Underside Blue is absolutely ravishing and you are so lucky to stumble upon Camberwells the way you do. There might be snow on your patch but I’d swap the verdant fields of damp and cool Britain for Switzerland any day! (although not right now, because we're in the 70s even in Swansea!)

Enjoy the heat, David!

I had time after school today to nip down and check on Faith and Willow. I've been getting hopelessly confused about which one I decided was which after they moved but they're probably siblings anyway and are both at the same stage of their lives, so it doesn't really matter.

Faith was the one who laid up first for her final skin change. She is now a 5th grader. That means, if she follows the usual pattern, that she will pupate at the end of May (I reckon on 17-18 days in 5th instar, followed by 3 days pupating). Here she is this evening:





Yesterday, Willow was laid up for ecdysis:



Today, she, too, has graduated:



She needs to get a bigger leaf ...



Guy

Thank you Guy Your diary is turning me green with envy - 2 creatures I would love to see and probably never will, PE larva and Camberwell Beauty, both in the same post

Lovely Butterflies and scenery Guy, I'd love to see a Camberwell Beauty, it must be great to see all these different species of Butterfly. Goldie

Hi Goldie. I suspect more people have seen a Camberwell beauty in the UK than a pure white small pearl-bordered fritillary!! You're forever defined by that in my mind!

Pauline, you probably do need the helping hand of Providence to see a Camberwell beauty in the UK, but I would have thought purple emperor cats are a totally achievable project for you. If you live near a site where they fly, you've just got to start searching - and when you get your eye in you will find plenty.

I checked on Willow and Faith at lunchtime then took an evening walk to check on the rest. The light was fading fast, but even so I found another three cats tonight: Mayor Wilkins, Wesley and Anya. I can't relocate Drusilla since she moved but that still leaves me with 8 cats on 8th May. They are:



I also saw several other places where there either were or had been cats, but it was too dark to locate any of them if they weren't obvious.

Guy

You'll have a job keeping tabs on this lot, Guy! Seriously, well done for tracking them and you definitely have earned the right to see at least one make it to adulthood.

Maybe this year?

Hi! Guy, I saw that white SPBF on the 4th of June, I'll never forget it I have it has my screen desktop I'm going up there again which I've done every year since we've had a bad Winter and things are late coming out so you never know!!!! I really enjoy seeing all your shots of scenery, Butterflies and Minnie Goldie

Great shots and beautiful sights Guy. I love Minnie on the snow with the mountains in the background.