Pauline

[Pauline]

I didn't find what I was looking for this morning and both the cloud and strong breeze hampered photography a little but here's a few more of the Wood Whites:

Still early days for these I reckon as few females seen. The only other species around were Speckled Wood and Speckled Yellow moth:

[millerd]

Lovely Wood Whites, Pauline. I had a session with them earlier in the week and constantly changing light made them very tricky. Your shots are far better, as you'll see soon. There were good numbers though.

What were you expecting to see today (apart from me of course... )? I doubt you'll have made any kind of dent in the Duke population - I imagine many hundreds (even thousands) of eggs are laid at Noar Hill every year, and the scant few you have abstracted will be a drop in the ocean, and with luck may end up with a better survival rate than the wild ones.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

Nice selection of moths Pauline, I was wondering if you had been using the trap lately. Jealous of the Buff-tip, still not had one of these.

Thanks for that Allan - Neil is probably sick of telling me the same things year after year but the trouble is, I just don't have the trap out enough and don't see these moths on a regular basis. Yes, I could look it up (as I often do ) but there's nothing like seeing it for real to 'get your eye in'. Thank you.

No worries Pauline, to be honest I can't remember what I have told you before anyway...they say it's an age thing .

Agree with Lesser Swallow Prominent. As Alan says, the size and shape of the white triangle is diagnostic.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

There was a definite 'blow' on today Pauline so you did well with those Wood Whites Really love the close up of the one feeding with the pollen stuck to its proboscis - brill

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Cheers Wurzel - I've given up letting the weather dictate what I do

Thank you Dave - you did good with the Wood Whites - some interesting behavioral shots there ... and yes, there are masses of Duke eggs predated every year so even if I totally fail I shouldn't think it would make much difference. Let's hope it doesn't come to that tho'!

Thank you Neil for the compliment and ID confirmation. I am not good with moths - neither the names nor the shots which I really struggle with. It makes me realise how much effort and skill you put in to your lovely imaginitive and creative images

Thank you M. I can't give you an actual Duke just yet Goldie but look out for updates on progress from time to time

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline, I've been thinking, I can't get out to see the Dukes may be I can take Duke eggs, Silver Studded Blue, Wood White, etc, etc, from you and raise them here poor things, I'd have no where here to let them go I'm seriously bored can't you tell Goldie

[David M]

Good selection of Wood White images, Pauline, with some having quite an ‘artistic’ feel to them, especially the close up of the underside hindwings showing the greyish mottling.

I also like the close-up showing the pollen adhered to the proboscis. How on earth do they get rid of that?

[Pauline]

I think we're all getting a bit like that M. You need to find a little 'project' to pass the time when there are no butterflies

Thank you David - for 'artistic', 'creative' or 'atmospheric' you need to take a look at Katrina's diary - some very nicely composed shots there

Just a quick update on the 'little'uns' - I think the DoB are 5 days old now so this is a shot from today:

I haven't mentioned the OT's for a while now but there were originally 9 eggs. All the eggs on the Cuckoo plant disappeared but there were still 5 larva on the garlic mustard a couple of days ago. Today there are only 2. Here's one of them:

11 Brimstone eggs were laid on the Alder Buckthorn in 3 batches of 1, 9, 1. Of the 9, only 4 remain and the larva of the last egg has just gone missing. A few shots from today:

[Pauline]

I knew the Silver-studded Blues would be out at Bramshott as this is one of the earliest sites in the country. They are nearly always out by now but I have been so occupied with domestic problems (electricians etc) that I have not had much time to check them out - unlike last year when I spent hours watching the very blue Female Common Blues whilst waiting for them to put in an appearance. Given their numbers I am assuming they have been out a few days but the environment this year is so different to what I have come to expect - much of the Common looks like it has been scalped and combined with the long period of hot dry weather, rather than a carpet of yellow the butterflies had to make do with this:

I usually need jeans and boots to walk around here because the brambles can be fierce but today I was in shorts and open sandals. Close up this is what the plants looked like:

I wasn't able to spend long there today which was fine as it was too hot and humid but I took a few shots:

At first I thought one of the males was just drying his wings as he was getting a lot of attention from the ants but then I decided one wing looked a little deformed. Those thoughts were confirmed when I saw other males attacking him - hope he makes it :

As I was leaving - no worries here about lockdown:

Interestingly, I did not see a single Common Blue - each and every Blue was a SSB!

[Pauline]

I went out for a quick walk yesterday to a fairly local site which usually has loads of butterflies but it was so hot I didn't see a single one. The first thing I spotted was this spider eating a fly. I like flies even less than I like spiders so in retrospect perhaps spiders do have a limited use :

There were lots of lovely elusive (Beautiful) Demoiselles, a few Dragonflies and loads of Ladybirds including some intent on ensuring it stays that way:

Not even any day flying moths but as desperation was now setting in I took a shot of this tiny moth hiding in the shade:

As I was leaving I was pleased to at least find a larva - Red Admiral I'm thinking, possibly 4th instar????: Quite a dark individual.

[Wurzel]

Great to see the Silver Studs Pauline That really is an early site for them I'm normally thinking I need to get back to Dorset for them around Mid June As for the Boris - you'll be an arachnophile before you know it

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Lovely Silver-studded Blues, Pauline - I'd almost forgotten they'd probably appear before the end of May this year. I shall have to have a look at the Surrey sites and see if they are as early. That unfortunate wonky one has really deep colouring - something I've noticed happens quite often with deformed butterflies. The colours are concentrated somehow.

Cheers,

Dave

[Pauline]

Cheers Wurzel - the only thing I'll ever like about spiders is being far away from them If ever I find one in the bath that's a huge problem for me


Thank you Dave - I believe you could be right about the deep colouring as it is something I have noticed too on occasion.

Tuesday (at least I think it was Tuesday, I'm losing track!) whilst the electricity board were checking out my supply I noticed another Brimstone had shed his skin and was eating it. Multi-tasking as always I managed to grab a few shots whilst they did what they had to do in the cupboard under the stairs:

[Pauline]

Ladies Day at Bramshott - the first female I saw today was a vivid blue female Common Blue egg-laying. The only Common Blue I saw today. Last year I noted that these blue females (which behaved very much like males) also emerged very early, certainly before the brown variety.

There were a fair few female SSB around but the males seemed a bit disinterested and lethargic which I assume was something to do with the heat:

Of more interest to me was the Green Hairstreak also frantically egg-laying:

[Wurzel]

Cracking shots of the ovi-positing Greenstreak Pauline I've had to learn to deal with Boris' as I regularly get a call from the bathroom from one of the three women in the house

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Wow! Early site or not late May seems ridiculous for SSBs!

Your usual eclectic mix of subjects these last few days, Pauline, but the ovipositing Green Hairstreak is top of my list, especially the way you've captured the ovum as it was about to be 'posited'.

Superb.

[Goldie M]

Great shots Pauline, you've certainly got the eye for the early stages I love the Green Hair Streak, don't think I'll see one now. Not to worry there's always next year!!! Goldie

[millerd]

That's a beautiful Green Hairstreak, Pauline, and terrific shots of her activities. Finding a fresh one of either sex now in this early season took some doing! Nice SSB female too - I love that oily sheen the fresh ones have. I managed to catch up with the species today near Cobham where I was told they've been out a couple of days. Very early again...

Cheers,

Dave

[Pauline]

Thank you David - much appreciated. What is your favourite species?

Thank you Dave - that's good of you to say so but you probably know by now that the Hairstreaks are my favourite and I could spend a long time watching them. In fact I went back there today and it was just as if I'd never been away...... the Green Hairstreak was still frantically laying eggs, the Dingy Skippers were frantically trying to find females and the male SSB were totally disinterested in the females. I have found many GH eggs in the past but never on Birds foot Trefoil as they are usually very securely tucked away and notoriously difficult to locate. This shot is quite dark but I was careful to keep it well shaded as I took this shot and made sure it was safely tucked away afterwards:

Cheers Goldie - don't give up hope. Remember last year I saw that really fresh Green Hairstreak really late in the year when it flew into a military base on Thorney Island. I can only assume it was the result of a partial second brood and given that so much is early this year who knows........?

Cheers Wurzel - I do believe you're a bit too far away to be of any use in my bathroom

PS A moth flew off one of the bird tables this morning as I put out fresh food. I believe it's a Small Magpie - didn't even get one of these in the trap!

[Pauline]

I have spent a fair bit of time over the last 9 days monitoring my Dukes (hatched on 20/5) as I doubt I will ever rear them again. Every day I have been taking shots of them as my own personal photographic record of their development – but I shall not include the day to day records in my diary. I shall include exceptional events and their first shedding of skin from first to second instar has been a fascinating insight into their lives. The first surprise was that it has taken probably in excess of 50 hours which means the larva are vulnerable and open to predation for a considerable period of their lives. I have no idea whether subsequent instars take as long but I am looking forward to finding out.

The second surprise was that although the eggs hatched within an hour of each other it looks (as I type) as if the first moult will be over one day later for the second larva.

I am not sure what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting a perfectly healthy little larva to settle down in a groove on the stem one evening (26/5) and overnight turn a ghostly white. I thought it had died; I thought it was parasitised. I watched it very closely over this period and became even more concerned as the body appeared to swell and it started to turn a pale khaki colour (don’t know how else to describe it). At this point I had convinced myself it was a goner and left them for the night. There was no change the next morning so at this point I considered snapping the leaf off the plant and putting it in a container to see what horrors emerged from the little body. It would at least protect the other one from any nasties. Thankfully I decided to give it a bit longer. Later in the day I was astonished when I checked it to see that it had turned almost black! I wondered if it was starting to rot but other than the strange colour change it actually looked OK. I checked it every hour until 9.00pm and left it for a second evening.

Up early the next morning and the first thing I did (after feeding Jaffa!) was to check the larva. I was delighted to see that it was alive and healthy and actually shedding it’s skin. This was not a fast process but it was fascinating to watch.

Once the skin had been shed it started to eat around the discarded head before turning round and eating the shed skin. It left the last little bit, pushing aside a ‘hairy’ bit as it made its way down the stem. Really incredible to witness.

I am now looking forward to seeing how the second one compares. Rather than interrupt the text with shots I shall just include them below with timings and brief comments:

27/05 8.00am

27/05 Mid-day

28/05 7.00am

28/05 7.00pm

28/05 8.00pm

29/05 6.00am

29/05 7.00am eating discarded head, now more of a pale grey colour than the black seen earlier:

29/05 8.00am Turning round to eat shed skin:

29/05 9.00am Eating shed skin:

29/05 10.00am ignoring last little bit of skin and preparing to move down stem:

So many more shots to look through but hope this provides an overview. The hairs on its back are now arranged singly rather than in clumps but still quite long.