www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Great work, Pete.

Really pleased to see you struck Irish gold

I particularly like the close-ups of the eggs (must get my macro lens out) and the shots of baynesi.

Enjoy your next trip.

Kindest regards. Mark

padfield wrote:I've been studying your baynesi, because it struck me at first that this bright grey/white was found on most fresh dingy skippers - and yet they did look different. When I compared the patterns it became apparent that a major difference is the submarginal, wavy, grey band, beyond the dark postdiscal band. In your baynesi, and especially in your second picture, that band is complete and well-developed, while in most dingies from elsewhere it is broken and poorly developed. I wonder if this is what makes baynesi look so exotic.

Thanks Guy - much appreciated! The baynesi moniker has been bugging me because, like you, the photos I took didn't seem that different from other Dingies I've seen, and I've not had a chance myself to do any "deep" analysis ... so really appreciate your observations here!

Cheers,

- Pete

Mark Colvin wrote:Great work, Pete.

Really pleased to see you struck Irish gold

I particularly like the close-ups of the eggs (must get my macro lens out) and the shots of baynesi.

Enjoy your next trip.

Kindest regards. Mark

Thanks Mark!

Cheers,

- Pete

Common Blue Fest
Given the relatively-poor weather today, I decided to take another brief trip to Greenham Common, in order to find some roosting Common Blue (I couldn't imagine they'd be flying!). I must admit, I do like the variability of the female Common Blues and the brief moments of brightness allowed them to open their wings, but remain fairly motionless otherwise. As I was leaving the site, everything came to life as the sun finally broke through. A selection of images below.
Cheers,

- Pete

Impressive images, Pete.

Yes, the female Common Blue is a much under-rated butterfly but I'm struggling to think of another that is so randomly variable wherever it is encountered.

I'm pleased to say that my experiences this year have shown that this species is out and present in considerable numbers. Given the recent prolonged dry spell, all it needs is for a dose of rainfall to replenish those larval foodplants.....and that is precisely what is forecast.

Happy days (for once)!

Love the shot of the collection of 5 blues I haven't seen any really brown females for a few years now. When I first started I was always concerned about misidentifying female Brown Argus/Common. But the last couple of years all the female I've seen have had at least a smattering of blue on them, could this be an environmental/climatic variation?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Another Birth!
Seriously inspired by Tony Moore's images of a Dingy Skipper larva emerging (see viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6864), I noticed a couple of days ago that an egg I've been looking after (rescued from the path over which it was laid and in serious danger of getting squished) had also darkened. Noticing that the shell was starting to be eaten from the top, I quickly assembled my gear to see if I could emulate Tony. In the images below, I've put the time of the image in its title to give some sense of elapsed time. The first sequence shows the larva eating off the top of the egg. Watching this through the viewfinder was quite something - my own personal Springwatch
Like Tony says, it takes an age for the larva to eat off the top of the egg, only for it to emerge in less than a minute! With the larva now "testing" to see if his/her head would fit through the hole, I quickly reset the camera to capture the final moments of emergence.
Of these sequences, my 2 favourite photos are below.
Cheers,

- Pete

Cracking shots Pete - I was scrolling down really quickly but it didn't quite form a "movie"

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Absolutely amazing Pete . I was pleased to see that the little fella emerged at a civilised hour.

The quality of the images actually makes you forget that the subject is only around the size of this full stop .
I also think we're going to need a bigger Species Album

Regards,

Vince

Thanks guys.

Vince Massimo wrote:I was pleased to see that the little fella emerged at a civilised hour.

Indeed! Tony's dedication, staying up until 5am, is quite admirable!

Cheers,

- Pete

Back on the Green Isle
I was fortunate to be working in Dublin at the end of last week, and managed to spend a chunk of time at North Bull Island Nature Reserve, off the coast of Dublin. I didn't know the place existing until I looked at the sightings page for the Republic of Ireland (http://www.butterflyireland.com/RECORDS.aspx) and saw that 298 Marsh Fritillary (f. hibernica) were seen on transect on 7th June. Clearly, there had been a population explosion and so I got in touch with David Nash (co-author of the excellent "Ireland's Butterflies: A Review" and also a former President of the esteemed Dublin Naturalists' Field Club) who gave me some pointers. Despite an unpromising weather forecast, I was on site at 0930 on Wednesday morning, having landed at Dublin airport at 0815. As I made my way to the favoured spot for Marsh Fritillary I came across several Garden Tiger moth larvae ("woolly bears") on the paths between the sand dunes, as well as several Small Heath. I was also on the lookout for female Common Blue to see if they conformed to the description of ssp. mariscolore where the female has extensive patches of blue, with large and bright orange marginal spots. The distribution of this subspecies is a subject of debate, but the few females I saw were quite "normal" to my eyes.
I eventually reached an area where masses of Devil's-bit Scabious (the larval foodplant of the Marsh Fritillary) grew, interspersed by Marsh Orchids. In fact, I've never seen so much of the stuff; every square metre contained a good number of plants.
Given my current fascination with subspecies and forms, I was really looking forward to my first ever sighting of the hibernica form of Marsh Fritillary, which is found all over Ireland, and is said to have a greater contrast between the orange ground colour and cream markings than those found in the south of England that I'm familiar with. Within 30 minutes a minor miracle happened when the dark clouds that dominated the sky dissipated and the next few hours were spent in perfect butterflying conditions, of intermittent sunshine. It wasn't long before I found my first Marsh Fritillary, then another and another. I must have seen well over 100 by the time I'd left.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeySSHzXgts[/video]

At 1240 I started to leave the site, having had my fill of Marsh Fritillary sightings, interspersed by the occasional Common Blue and Small Heath, and started to wander the mile or so back to the car. I then noticed a female Marsh Fritillary acting very strange and clearly looking to oviposit. I managed to capture her on video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiNVCuw9qwU[/video]

She eventually found a leaf on which to lay and, blow me down, another female was already tucked away ovipositing on the same leaf. Now I don't know if this is just pure coincidence, but the chances of the same leaf being used among the thousands of leaves available must be pretty small. In the first photo below you can see the pair of ovipositing females toward the bottom centre of the picture, followed by a closeup and a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCbShlwj0kg[/video]

As I watched the pair oviposit for quite some time, a third female flew onto the same leaf before, eventually, landing about a foot away where she found another leaf on which to oviposit.
Why 3 females should all choose the same leaf given the area of the site and amount of larval foodplant available is beyond me, but I do intend to write this up for a journal, since it's not something I've come across before. Some theories are:

1. Pure coincidence.
2. The particular plant is in a favoured position for the site, and has a favoured leaf.
3. The females give off some chemical/pheremonal signal that attracts other females - perhaps giving the resulting (and larger) larval nest a better chance of survival (assuming, of course, that there is available larval foodplant).

I didn't have time to wait for all 3 females to finish laying (the process taking literally hours) so returned the following morning to get some shots of the various egg masses.
And finally, for some reason I really like the photo below, so thought I'd finish this report with it! As usual, an excellent time spent in the Emerald Isle. I must admit, I love the place - perhaps it's because I'm technically half-Irish (all of my grandparents on my mother's side came from Ireland)!
Cheers,

- Pete

Another good day at the office

Pete Eeles wrote:
Why 3 females should all choose the same leaf given the area of the site and amount of larval foodplant available is beyond me, but I do intend to write this up for a journal, since it's not something I've come across before. Some theories are:

1. Pure coincidence.
2. The particular plant is in a favoured position for the site, and has a favoured leaf.
3. The females give off some chemical/pheremonal signal that attracts other females - perhaps giving the resulting (and larger) larval nest a better chance of survival (assuming, of course, that there is available larval foodplant).

Small Tortoiseshells are reported to exhibit the same egglaying behaviour (Thomas/Lewington - page 185), but the reason for this is not explained.

Regards,

Vince

Hi Pete,

Just catching up ...

Congratulations to the new father; I trust you'll be wetting the baby's head with a pint of Guinness

Great to see the shots of hibernica. Certainly from those that I have seen in the past I would agree that there is a greater contrast in ground colour.

Kindest regards. Mark

Vince Massimo wrote:Small Tortoiseshells are reported to exhibit the same egglaying behaviour (Thomas/Lewington - page 185), but the reason for this is not explained.

Thanks Vince (and Mark!). I'll drop JT an email to see if there's a name for this phenomenon and gather the theories (if there are any!). Shall report back!

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete Eeles wrote:

Vince Massimo wrote:I'll drop JT an email to see if there's a name for this phenomenon and gather the theories (if there are any!). Shall report back!

Just to close the loop ... I asked Jeremy the following:

"I had the pleasure of spending a day observing Marsh Fritillary (f.hibernica) at North Bull Island, off the coast of Dublin, last week. The site is fairly large with a large supply of Devil's-bit Scabious. I was therefore somewhat taken aback when I followed a female (that was clearly looking to oviposit) which ultimately landed on a leaf that already had an ovipositing female present. The second female then took up position and also started ovipositing. A 3rd female then attempted to join them, but found another leaf about 10 inches away. I'm wondering if this sighting is worth writing up for a journal, or whether this is a common and well-understood occurrence / phenomenon (and, if so, does it have a name?). My own theories are:

1. Coincidence.
2. The plants in question are in a favoured spot, even within a large site, and therefore not much of a coincidence.
3. The larvae benefit from being part of the larger communal web that results and this is a deliberate oviposition strategy (possibly brought on by chemical / pheremonal signals emitted by an ovipositing female)."

Jeremy's reply is along the following lines:

1. He would rule out coincidence.
2. Theory 2 is almost certainly part of the explanation since, like most butterflies, female Marsh Fritillary select a surprisingly small subset of available foodplants for oviposition, choosing those growing in optimum conditions for their young.
3. Theory 3 is possibly the major factor. Some related species (e.g. Glanville Fritillary, Small Tortoiseshell) frequently choose the same leaf as another female, sometimes laying their eggs onto the older batch. The theory being that the larvae can thermoregulate more efficiently when numbers are higher and, more convincingly, that their prickly bodies are a greater deterrent to birds, mice etc when en masse.

Cheers,

- Pete

White Admiral doings

The White Admiral larvae I've been rearing are all now pupating and, yesterday, I managed to catch one in the act! Rather than post a long series of separate images, I've taken's Wurzel's hint and created a "montage" to save you scrolling!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5202aKaYnQM[/video]
Cheers,

- Pete

Beautiful images, Pete.

Thanks David!

Adonis Fest

The variation found in many of our blues is a constant source of fascination for me, and I set off this morning to an Adonis site in Wiltshire, hoping to catch up with a variety of Adonis Blue females, aspiring to get a decent shot of the bluest, the brownest, and everything in between! I must have photographed over 20 different females in the space of 2 hours, and was also lucky enough to watch a female rummaging through the Horseshoe Vetch as she oviposited. Given the known inter-breeding between Adonis Blue and Chalkhill Blue (resulting in ab.polonus = bellargus x coridon), and the similarity of the larvae (albeit that the Adonis Blue larva is diurnal, and the Chalkhill Blue larva nocturnal), I was expecting the egg to also be similar - but it definitely isn't! The Adonis egg is much more "delicate" in terms of its patterning and overall shape.
Also saw my first Large Skippers of the year at Stockbridge Down

Cheers,

- Pete

Cracking shots Pete , an thanks for the montage

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel!

Hampshire and Isle of Wight New Members' Day

Saturday saw the branch's annual New Members' Day, attended by around 30 new members to the branch. This is one of the most enjoyable events of the year, with a high level of enthusiasm all round! A morning of presentations and discussion was following by a trip to the branch's flagship reserve at Magdalen Hill Down. Unfortunately, the weather didn't play ball, although we did manage to find several butterflies and, especially, some immature stages. One particular and small Purging Buckthorn played host a dozen Brimstone larvae, some absolutely tiny, and others absolutely huge!
Cheers,

- Pete