www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Don't know how I've missed out on your diary for so long Pete but I certainly have been missing out. There is some amazing stuff on there. Re Marsh Frits, how long is it after mating that they ovipost? The footage of the White Admiral is incredible. Over what period of time did the transformation occur? I love the way you have presented this.

Great Orme
First off, a big thanks to stu51 and LancsRover for their reports of Silver-studded Blue on the Great Orme, near Llandudno in North Wales. And so it was that a 0430 start yesterday saw me arrive at the Orme at 0830, without a cloud in the sky. My first (and only, as it happened) stop was Happy Valley, having managed to park 100 yards from it! The site is amazing, with south-facing slopes carpeted in Rock-rose, whose yellow flowers provided nectar for a host of insects.
Within 2 seconds I saw my first male Silver-studded Blue, ssp. caernensis, and within another minute I found the primary reason for travelling the 230 miles - a beautiful female SSB with the characteristic splashes of blue. Wow! This really was like finding a new species for me. The next 4 hours were spent observing what must have been over 100 SSBs all over the site. I was particularly interested in the range of colours exhibited by the females, and that range is shown in the photos below (roughly going from darkest to lightest), having been motivated by the excellent paper that discusses SSB races so well - http://users.ox.ac.uk/~zool0376/PargusAnimalConserv.pdf. As shown on the species page, this subspecies differs from the nominate subspecies as follows:

1. It is smaller in size.
2. The male upperside has narrower, sometimes absent, dark borders.
3. The male underside is paler.
4. The female upperside has a blue flush that extends over most of the hindwings and base of the forewings.

Of these characteristics, I'd say that characteristics #1 and #4 are the most noticeable.
While photographing the SSBs, I was disturbed now and again by an occasional Wall. However, the 3rd "Wall" I closely looked at turned out, in fact, to be the second endemic subspecies found on the Great Orme I'd come to see - Grayling ssp. thyone - which appeared slightly smaller than the Grayling I'm used to seeing. The dozen or so I saw were quite obliging as they flew among the rocks at the top of the slope.
And what would you do if you had a site that held several endemics? Build an artificial ski slope, of course! Yes, there is indeed such as thing bolted onto the side of the Great Orme, which was quite a surprise to say the least!

Prees Heath
By 1pm I was absolutely shattered and needed to get some food and drink! With the clouds now appearing I decided to head home, but thought I'd pop into Prees Heath since it was on the way home. It seemed that SSB are only just starting to emerge here, but I did manage to find a few roosting males, which were markedly larger than those I'd found on the Great Orme, and a great end to another butterflying adventure!
Cheers,

- Pete

Pauline wrote:Don't know how I've missed out on your diary for so long Pete but I certainly have been missing out. There is some amazing stuff on there. Re Marsh Frits, how long is it after mating that they ovipost? The footage of the White Admiral is incredible. Over what period of time did the transformation occur? I love the way you have presented this.

Thanks Pauline! I'm not sure what the time lag between mating and laying is (and is probably species-specific). I know that some butterflies start to lay within a couple of hours of having mated. As for the White Admiral, start to finish is probably 10 minutes to shed the skin, and 4 hours for the pupa to get its final shape.

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Pete,
Great report, and a trip down Memory Lane for me. I don't dare calculate how long it's been, but I'm inspired to go back, perhaps next year.
BWs, Neil

Super report, Pete.

I don't know about subspecies; to me it could be a different species ...

Great work.

kindest regards. Mark

I've read plenty about the female of this form, but I think this is the first time I've seen photographs of it on this site.

Clearly, there is a marked difference between the colouration of these females and those residing throughout the rest of the UK.

A beautiful little butterfly, and well done for supplying the images, Pete.

Lovely photos of a butterfly I've wanted to see for ages - I've always been on the Orme too late in the year.

Dave

Just catching up on your diary Pete, some really interesting reports and great photos.

I also particularly like your last f. hibernica Marsh Fritillary image.

Cheers,

Neil F.

Great report Pete and superb photos It's easy to see why the Silver Stud has sub-specific status but trickier with the Grayling as they show such a range of variation in colour anyway

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I can only heap praise on praise! Some really great pictures here, Pete. I've seen many varieties of silver-studded blue but never come across females like those caernensis. Fantastic stuff.

Guy

Thanks for the comments all - much appreciated! I must admit, I'm finding the various subspecies and forms absolutely fascinating. Especially when races, such as caernensis, must have evolved over a very long time (since there's only one brood per year)!

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete,

Are there still (introduced) populations of the same sub-species at sites just to the east of Colwyn Bay? Not for the purist, I know...

Dave

millerd wrote:Pete,

Are there still (introduced) populations of the same sub-species at sites just to the east of Colwyn Bay? Not for the purist, I know...

Dave

Yes there are, although I'm not sure how large the population is these days.

Cheers,

- Pete

Silchester Common
Two weeks ago I found none, but today I found 17 male and 5 female Silver-studded Blue at Silchester Common (including a newly-emerged male) - good to see they're still here in good numbers given the removal of gorse in the "hotspot" over the winter. One male had particularly prominent spotting on the underside. The pristine females showed off the characteristic sheen as it caught the sun.
Cheers,

- Pete

Portland

Another early start was needed to get me to Portland Bill this morning before the butterflies woke up - the target species being the Silver-studded Blue race that's found here, and that some authorities consider to represent ssp. cretaceus, an extinct subspecies formerly found on chalk downland in Kent, Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset. The SSBs can be found in many of the disused quarries found here. First stop was the wonderful Tout Quarry. If you've never been here, it's somewhere the family can enjoy the various sculptures and patterns that have been created out of the Portland stone, and the spectacular views over Chesil Beach, while you get down to the serious business of butterflying
After an hour I found my first male SSB followed by a few more.
I examined each to see just how well they conformed to ssp. cretaceus which, when compared with the nominate subspecies, exhibits the following differences:

1. It is slightly larger in size, on average.
2. The male upperside is of a brighter blue.
3. The male upperside has narrower dark borders.
4. The male upperside hindwing has distinct marginal spots, rather than a dark band.

Of these characteristics, I'd say that characteristics #3 and #4 are the most obvious differences, although this is a highly variable species, even within the same colony. I later moved on to Broadcroft Quarry, where at least 7 individuals were found, including 2 females.
Having seen 4 races of SSB over the last few weeks (Silchester Common, Great Orme, Prees Heath and Portland) I find it incredible just how different these races are. I hope to visit other colonies next year to complete the "set" of distinct populations - including those on the Cornish sand dune system as well as those found on mossland in North Wales.

Cheers,

- Pete

Butterflies certainly take you to some beautiful paces Pete - your lovely photos of the area give context to the butterflies; places that might as well be a million miles away for me as I will never be able to get that far

I do realise how lucky I am to get to these places, Pauline. I'm determined to make the most of whatever opportunities I have, and you certainly seem to be doing that too!

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete Eeles wrote:I hope to visit other colonies next year to complete the "set" of distinct populations - including those on the Cornish sand dune system as well as those found on mossland in North Wales.

Hi Pete,

Just for interest's sake, which 'race' do the Pembrokeshire populations belong to? These are very isolated indeed (though I believe this species used to be present on the Gower).

David M wrote:Just for interest's sake, which 'race' do the Pembrokeshire populations belong to? These are very isolated indeed (though I believe this species used to be present on the Gower).

Hi David - I constantly refer back to this paper: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~zool0376/PargusAnimalConserv.pdf. Although by inference any race not covered by this paper could be considered to confirm to the nominate subspecies (Plebejus argus ssp. argus), we all know that the separation of subspecies and forms, and even species (see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/pap/des ... print.pdf‎), is not an exact science. If the Pembrokeshire populations have been isolated for a significant period of time, then there could well be some morphological differences with other races - it's just that nobody has observed this as far as I'm aware, so could be a good candidate for further analysis.

Cheers,

- Pete

I thought I'd gotten the only Dorsetian endemic with Lulworth Skipper, I better get myself back "home" next year just in case cretaceus is a "proper" race on Portland.

Have a goodun

Wurzel