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Beautiful Butterflies Guy from your holiday, some I've never seen before really enjoyed your photos Goldie

Thanks David, Wurzel and Goldie.

I haven't seen a painted lady for a few days now. It's quite exciting waiting for the next brood!

I've discovered there is much more heath near Martlesham than the tiny remnant I've been visiting, where I used to see so many silver-studs as a child. This morning I wandered over the more extensive area, hoping for a late blue, but saw none, probably because the season is largely over. I did see loads of brown argus, common blue, small copper, small and Essex skippers, meadow browns, gatekeepers and ringlets, as well as half a dozen purple hairstreaks, so it's a site I will visit again. The purple hairstreaks were all hanging around the tops of trees but the superzoom allows good record shots all the same. Both these pictures were taken standing in the same spot:





In the afternoon I had a rare chance to wander around my local meadow without a pack of dogs in tow (Minnie, plus my sister's two dogs, whom I'm looking after). I went expressly to look for white-letter hairstreaks, as there are plenty of elms and although I totally failed to find any eggs or larvae earlier in the year I felt the species really should fly here. By great chance, I saw a single individual, which nectared briefly on yarrow some distance away then zoomed across the meadow. I got the necessary proof shot:



This is literally in the middle of Woodbridge. I feel sure this elusive species is generally under-recorded.

Guy

Good spotting Guy Hairstreaks do seem to be under recorded, I remember reading somewhere (can't remember where exactly) that the Purple Hairstreak could be the most common butterfly in Britain even when taking with a huge pinch of salt I can see why they made that statement

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's a pretty impressive zoom for you to grab those kind of shots from that distance Guy.

Nice that your instincts paid off with the White Letter Hairstreak. I daresay you'll be out looking for eggs again come the autumn?

HI Wurzel. It's a little counterintuitive that purple hairstreak should be Britain's commonest butterfly but like you, I see the point of that comment. The number actually seen is probably a small fraction of the number there are out there.

Yes, it's a good zoom, David - or rather, was. The LCD screen packed up today, just as I was about to photograph another white-letter hairstreak in the same place - one of two I saw today. In fact, despite the hairstreaky triumph, it wasn't such a good day. I had to take my (prescription) sunglasses off to look through the viewfinder and then couldn't find the glasses afterwards. So I'm up two w-album but down a camera and a pair of glasses. I even went back after dark to see if they would glint in torchlight but no joy!

Here's the girl I did manage to get poor shots of, through the old-fashioned method of pressing my eye to the camera:



You can see she is heavily gravid and even has an egg still stuck to her abdomen. This is something I've seen before. I photographed this female large skipper with two eggs stick clinging on in 2008:



I hope it means she has been laying not far away ...

Guy

I was going to take my camera to Colchester to be repaired this afternoon, but decided not to leave my father and the dogs so in this heat. Instead, I used the time to find out more about my local w-album. To my delight, I watched half a dozen presumed males cavorting in the canopy of a large elm, occasionally being chased into a neighbouring sycamore. The camera still works by viewfinder, so I was able to take record/proof shots even though they were at a considerable distance:



This was necessary to dispel the possibility they were quercus, which also flies in Woodbridge and often leks in trees other than oak.

A single female came lower, scouting for laying sites. This is a flowering elm.

Guy

Interesting shot Guy - do the eggs get stuck because they are particularly gravid and so they have so many to lay or is it because they get disturbed?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I shouldn't have spoken, Guy! That's real bad luck with the camera and I hope you get it mended soon.

Nice to see the White Letters are still flying.

Wurzel wrote:Interesting shot Guy - do the eggs get stuck because they are particularly gravid and so they have so many to lay or is it because they get disturbed?

I have seen this happen a couple of times when breeding Speckled Woods in the lab. My sense is that, as you suggest, it comes about when they are very gravid and can't find suitable laying locations quickly enough.

Thanks David. Today was the first chance I had to take my camera to the Canon repair shop in Colchester. Until I get it back, I'm using my old camera, which is still pretty good when it works.

CallumMac wrote:

Wurzel wrote:Interesting shot Guy - do the eggs get stuck because they are particularly gravid and so they have so many to lay or is it because they get disturbed?

I have seen this happen a couple of times when breeding Speckled Woods in the lab. My sense is that, as you suggest, it comes about when they are very gravid and can't find suitable laying locations quickly enough.

That makes sense.

Every time I pass - which is every day - I scan the canopy for w-album and every day I see one or more, even in just a couple of minutes looking up. The only exception was when it was actually raining. Not surprisingly, people ask me what I'm doing and I'm always glad to show them, knowing that the insects are well out of human reach! The other day, a local gardner asked me, and later came back to tell me the trees in question are not Ulmus sp., as I thought, but Zelkova. The literature doesn't mention w-album on Zelkova, so far as I know, which means either:

a) We can add Zelkova to the list of w-album hostplants;

or

b) This explains why I didn't find any eggs or larvae in my winter/spring searches of the trees.

There were at least half a dozen males sparring and spiralling today. A bit of point-and-shoot captured several in flight:





Guy

Surprised you're still finding them in August, Guy.

Seems that zelkova is a popular bonsai tree in Japan:

http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Zelkova.html

Hi David. In Switzerland, in my local woods, I always see w-album into August and they start at the end of June at the same site. But I haven't seen any for the last couple of days. It also seems the trees might not be Zelkova but Ulmus after all. I'll wait for confirmation on that.

Today I was delighted to find some eggs. Here are two of them:





I hope that means I can follow some cats next spring. I don't name w-album cats, though, as unlike iris cats they zoom all over the tree and never seem to be found in the same place on two successive days.

I took Minnie for a heathland walk in the afternoon. Graylings were out in their dozens, showing off their amazing camouflage:



They were also settling on the trees ...



... and in the heather ...



... but mostly on the ground:



Guy

Zelcova , (Caucasian Elm) generally seems to have much smaller leaves than the European elms, an inch or so long at the most. They also have toothed edges. Although Caucasian Elm can be killed by Elm disease, the carrier beetle doesn’t usually feed on it.

Padfield wrote:...Graylings were out in their dozens, showing off their amazing camouflage...

It's terrific isn't it, Guy?

I don't get long each year to study this one species we have in the UK, which is a shame as it is one of the most intriguing butterflies in the entire UK fauna.

Thanks Buzzard. I had them down as Zelkova serrata (Japanese elm) if they were Zelkova, but it seems to be agreed they are Ulmus pumila now. I had always thought they were Ulmus until suddenly told otherwise ...

Yes David, graylings are fantastic butterflies. We are lucky that they are a very common butterfly in East Suffolk.

On my afternoon dog-walk to the hairstreak meadow I spotted what I took to be a purple hairstreak zoom out of one oak and into another. Sadly, it flew straight into a spider's web and by the time I had roughly focused my zoom on it the spider had already begun wrapping it up. Photography was not easy because as well as Minnie, who was happily trotting around free, I had my sister's rather wild dog attached to my waist. On top of that, the butterfly was suspended in the air surrounded by leaves the camera wanted to focus on, and moving and vibrating. So the pictures do not really confirm the ID. I think it's clear this is a female hairstreak, but no purple is visible and there is just a tantalising suggestion of an orange upperside anal spot in the first picture. Nevertheless, if only because she was flying from oak to oak I think she is probably purple:



And literally seconds later:



Painted ladies are everywhere at the moment. At least some are very small, suggesting they were affected by the heatwave. This is one of the small ones, though you can't tell it from the picture:



Today they were all over the Buddleias along the streets of Woodbridge. Here are a couple with a red admiral - which is also around in great numbers:



(still with wild dog attached!)

The bigger picture looked like this:



Common blues have had a brilliant summer locally and are abounding now. A great many, however, are very small, suggesting they too were affected by the heatwave. This is one of the small ones, on ragwort:



Finally, gatekeepers are having a tremendous party. I'm sure I've never seen so many, though to be fair we don't get them in my part of Switzerland and I'm not usually in the UK at this time of year.



Guy

Hi Guy. I think your gut feel serves you well. For me, Gatekeeper wins 'Butterfly of the Year' award 2019.
BWs, Neil

Great set of shots Guy as per usual I've seen several 'smaller' than usual individuals recently including Meadow Browns, Green-veined Whites and a Brown Argus that was smaller than the smallest of Small Blues - it was actually hard to follow it when it was in flight - can size be affected by heat or is it because the heat affected the growth of the host plant?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice to know there are so many Painted Ladies in your area, Guy. Yes, I'm sure Gatekeepers are a little 'exotic' for you these days, having spent so much of your life in Switzerland. This is one species I've never yet seen in France (although they ARE present in NE Spain).

Thanks for the confirmation, Neil! Reading your diary makes me suspect there might be a few other species vying for the title of Butterfly of the Year! Sometimes I don't even like to look at it and be reminded what I'm missing ...

Hi Wurzel. There have been different theories about the tiddlers in these fora in recent years. I've always put it down to vegetation drying up and precipitating early pupation, while others prefer to speak of lower nutrient quality of the vegetation during heatwaves. Possibly there are several factors operating. Very small second brood common blues seem to be a regular occurence in hot years and I noticed in Andalucía in 2017, when I was there in high summer (temperatures peaking at 47-48 degrees), that the celina were absolutely tiny.

Gatekeepers are always a pleasure, David. It's not so much that they're exotic as symbols of my childhood - memories of lost innocence!!

I've had very little time on my hands recently so the thrice daily dog-walks around the meadow provide most of my butterfly contact. Today I found a single white-letter hairstreak egg on the lekking elm - that is, a different elm from where I had previously found eggs. It will be much easier searching in the winter, when the twigs are bare and I probably won't still have my sister's lovely but wild dog!



I believe eggs are laid at all heights in the trees, and as there are at least five suitable elms in this one meadow I think the groundwork has probably been done for a good brood next year.

In the afternoon a now slightly weary male hutchinsoni comma was strutting his stuff in the garden:



And painted ladies still everywhere:



Tomorrow I shall carefully examine all our sweet peas ...

Guy

EDIT: Perhaps I should add this animated gif of Minnie and her new friend, Boo, doing the synchronised tail-wag. Boo looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth here, but it very definitely would:

Cheers for the info Guy - food for thought That is a cracking Painted Lady - all the ones I'm seeing are in a bit of a state

Have a goodun

Wurzel