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Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:10 pm
by Padfield
Unsurprisingly, there were no Camberwell beauties on the wing today. At both sites I visited, though, large tortoiseshells were out and I saw a total of nine different individuals despite substantial cloud at times. These sites are further along the valley from where I saw the single individual on Wednesday and Matt R saw one equally far in the other direction on Friday.
This was at my second site:
This is a characteristic pose: head down on a tree trunk, wings pressed against the bark. In the heat of the morning, though, they landed more often on the ground, where they orientated themselves end on to the sun, with closed wings:
Large tortoiseshell is the hibernator
par excellence. The adults emerge in July and I can't recall offhand ever having seen one after that month. In general, I see very few in summer anyway, as they stock up on sugars and enter hibernation soon after emergence. Both the individuals above are in fine fettle but both are probably 7 months old. They slept through the heat of August and September, ignored the protracted autumn, when the red admirals were dining on apples and frantically defending the last sunspots, and finally woke up now, as if freshly emerged from the chrysalis.
Small tortoiseshells were abundant today - if I had counted I would certainly have reached triple figures. They rose from the paths as I walked, sparred in groups of two, three or even four in the air, and generally livened up the whole day.
This species is quite unlike its grander cousin. It is lively and enthusiastic, while the large tortoiseshell is majestic and almost condescending.
No other butterflies flew. The brimstones and commas, prominent early wakers in the UK, bide their time in Switzerland.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 5:12 pm
by Lee Hurrell
Lovely images as usual, Guy, along with a serene and poetic feel to your report!
Best wishes,
Lee
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 5:16 pm
by Mark Colvin
Jealousy is a terrible thing!
Our time will come ...
Kindest regards. Mark
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:11 pm
by Padfield
I am and will always be an Englishman abroad, so there is a special pleasure in seeing British rarities, like large tortoiseshell, Queen of Spain and Camberwell beauty. I guess there is also a certain pride in the showing of them, that could border on smugness - but there is honestly no intention to arouse jealousy or dissatisfaction back home! Of the hundreds of large tortoiseshells I have watched, the one I saw in Suffolk in 1985 will always be the most special and I would
love to have seen a Queen of Spain in the UK. No amount of thistles heaving with ilex hairstreaks in the Rhône Valley will ever quite match the sight of one black hairstreak twisting on a blackthorn leaf in an Oxfordshire woodland...
The problem for UK residents with large tortoiseshell and Camberwell beauty is that most people plan their holidays for the summer, when seeing one of these species is very much a lottery. Very few people come to Switzerland in March and April, except to ski, and these are the months when it is possible, just about, to guarantee a sighting. When the large tortoiseshell recovers its rightful place in British woodland - which it surely must do - envy will flow in the other direction.
In the meantime, weather permitting, and despite any jealousy I might innocently provoke, I pledge to adorn my diary with pictures of Camberwell beauty before the month is out...
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:25 pm
by Jack Harrison
In truth, the Large Tortoiseshell is nothing like as spectacular in appearance as the Red Admiral or Peacock. But it is sheer rarity that makes the hairs on the back of the neck bristle. I have seen just one LT in my life and that was 64 years ago!!!!
So do tell us Guy: is there any species that is so common in Britain that we don't give it a second thought, yet in Switzerland might cause excitement on account of its rarity there?
Jack
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:26 pm
by Padfield
Gatekeeper!
Guy
EDIT: My 'home patch' is the region marked with a yellow ellipse. I was commissioned to search for
tithonus at that one spot within the area (where there have been about three sightings in the last hundred years or so) but despite finding apparently suitable habitat I found no gatekeepers. There is a botanical garden in the vicinity and I suspect the sightings were of accidentally imported insects. The only main sites are in the Jura, on the border with France, in Geneva, again on the border with France, and in the Ticino.
Nick B and Reverdin saw a gatekeeper on my patch in 2010 but didn't think it worth getting a photo...
![Evil or Very Mad :evil:](./images/smilies/icon_evil.gif)
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:19 pm
by David M
padfield wrote: When the large tortoiseshell recovers its rightful place in British woodland - which it surely must do - envy will flow in the other direction.
I certainly hope so, Guy. From what I've read, this butterfly was fairly common 100 years ago and its decline is to be lamented. However, given that it is a low density species, one cannot say with absolute certainty that it is completely extinct in the UK.
I have read with interest reports of an LT 'hot spot' on the Isle of Wight. Who's to say that it isn't present in smallish numbers elsewhere?
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:46 pm
by Mark Senior
Great reports and photos as always , Padfield .
Off topic but perhaps it will make you jealous , a trip up to London today showed that the Primroses are out all along the Brighton Line , daffodils were out in Hyde Park too .
Re: Padfield
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:42 pm
by Padfield
Jealous indeed!
Very few flowers were out yesterday in my local woods, which was probably good planning on their part as the temperature dropped rapidly during the day and this morning I woke up to snow again.
Here is a track in Aurelian's woods yesterday:
A very few snowdrops are showing through and there are occasional primroses and even a cowslip or two, but it is mostly bare and wintry.
I cycled to this spot in the morning and reckoned the temperature was hovering around zero - my hands were numb when I got there. Even so, small tortoiseshells were out in good numbers. Nothing else was flying.
In the sun the sallows are just coming into blossom, a little behind those in the valley (but not much).
Aurelian himself is in the half-shade, though, and his sallows showed no signs of spring at all.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:18 pm
by marmari
I look at the photos of the Large Tortoiseshell with obvious envy.Still the Isle of Wight has a mention here in spite of the fact that ,as yet no LT sightings.As far as I am aware anyway.
The weather at our spot today was sunny ,after midday, but a chilly wind.No sign of any butterfly out and about there,at all.
The first daffodils in Woodhouse Copse are now appearing.
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:49 pm
by Padfield
The sun shone in the valley today but a wind got up during the afternoon and it was cold in the morning. Despite this, the first small whites were on the wing - I saw two males. Neither was in the mood for posing but I took proof shots, if only to confirm for the record that they were small, not green-veined:
That second one was put up by a passing large tortoiseshell. Unlike all the others I have seen this year, this individual looked well past its best:
I don't know if that happened before (or during) hibernation or if it is wear and tear in the week and a half since large tortoiseshells came on the wing. Others I saw today were in better nick.
It was nice to see a fresh male clouded yellow:
The first of this species I saw, back in February, was crumpled and looked as if it had emerged too early. This one was eager and flighty.
Unsurprisingly, Queens of Spain were on the wing in good numbers. This one appeared to have been stunned by a car and was drifting somewhat aimlessly around the road:
It could fly, just, and I encouraged it out of danger's path.
Small tortoiseshells were abundant too. I sat and watched this couple not do anything for about ten minutes and even took several minutes' video of them not doing anything. I had hoped to see what happened when they got together, never having seen small tortoiseshells mating, but it was not to be. I left them and came back five minutes later, by which time they had disappeared, together or otherwise.
The grizzled skipper banks are now covered in
Potentilla flowers and it is only days till these butterflies fly. I may get a chance to look for them on Wednesday.
Other spring flowers were also coming out in the valley - quite a change from just one week ago.
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/violets1201.jpg)
(Dog violets)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/bulbouscorydalis1201.jpg)
(Bulbous corydalis)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/bulbouscorydalis1202.jpg)
(White form of bulbous corydalis)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/pasqueflower1201.jpg)
(Pasqueflower - as usual, flowering long before its name suggests)
In my local woods on Wednesday, hepatica and primroses were out and this rather distrustful lizard was scuttling among them:
As yet no commas, brimstones or peacocks. If the weather is good I will stay local tomorrow and see if they put in an appearance near Huémoz.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 6:06 pm
by David M
padfield wrote:
Small tortoiseshells were abundant too. I sat and watched this couple not do anything for about ten minutes and even took several minutes' video of them not doing anything. I had hoped to see what happened when they got together, never having seen small tortoiseshells mating, but it was not to be.
Must admit, I've watched them just pottering about together in the hope I might see them mating with equally little success. Has anyone actually seen this happen?
As yet no commas, brimstones or peacocks. If the weather is good I will stay local tomorrow and see if they put in an appearance near Huémoz.
Odd that your Grizzled Skippers are about to emerge and your Small Whites are already on the wing, yet you haven't seen three species of butterfly that have been sighted here in the UK quite regularly.
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 6:19 pm
by Padfield
David M wrote:Odd that your Grizzled Skippers are about to emerge and your Small Whites are already on the wing, yet you haven't seen three species of butterfly that have been sighted here in the UK quite regularly.
In the UK those three species are often seen on warm days at the end of winter. Here, they are well behaved and wait until spring proper. Why this should be I don't know, but it may be to do with the fact that although we get better radiant heat early in the year you enjoy higher average temperatures. Plants can make some progress in the mild UK winter. Until this last week, the ground here was generally frozen and barren, with just the surface thawing in the sun.
I forgot to mention: the crag martins are back. I think they actually arrived today. At my first site, further east along the valley, they were zooming around the cliffs in the morning. When I reached my second site, near Martigny, there were none to be seen. But as I left I suddenly noticed their chattering filling the air and realised a group had flown in. If this observation is correct, it suggests the Rhône Valley crag martins arrive via Italy, not France.
These are not good birds for a compact camera with a 0.6s shutter delay, but I did try to take some pictures in the morning, just pointing the camera at the top of the cliffs...
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/cragmartin1201.jpg)
(If you look carefully you can see one cutting the cliff top... That is maximum zoom and then severely cropped)
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 8:50 pm
by David M
padfield wrote:In the UK those three species are often seen on warm days at the end of winter. Here, they are well behaved and wait until spring proper. Why this should be I don't know, but it may be to do with the fact that although we get better radiant heat early in the year you enjoy higher average temperatures. Plants can make some progress in the mild UK winter. Until this last week, the ground here was generally frozen and barren, with just the surface thawing in the sun.
I'm sure you have something there, Guy (as ever).
Since early February there hasn't been a frost of note here in S.Wales so I guess butterflies have an overall easier time of things than they do in your part of the world (even
if in Switzerland they do enjoy superior radiant heat on occasions).
Re: Padfield
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:39 pm
by Padfield
I stayed local today, visiting sites I could reach on my bicycle and checking in particular all the places where early peacock, brimstone or comma fly (including my local woods). I can confirm that none of these species is yet on the wing. I did find another male small white, though:
That was at about 600m.
I wound my way down to the valley via the unfortunately named village of Verschiez, which prides itself on having the most growing hours (for wine) per year of anywhere in the region. The wooded slopes near there are bathed in sun but not a single peacock, brimstone or comma put in an appearance.
This view, a little after Verschiez, shows the Château d'Aigle:
The French border runs along the far mountain ridge.
Next stop was my red admiral site, where so many flew in the autumn (and in February 2011). Not a single admiral today, despite very favourable weather - just a few small tortoiseshells crossing the meadow and occasionally settling.
Lancastrian asked if I drank real ale when out butterflying. The answer used to be: usually no, unless Matt brought some from Vevey or I had been to the shops in the valley myself recently (Mike was right I brew my own, but I brew it in barrels and only occasionally decant some into a water bottle). HOWEVER, last week the storekeeper of the Co-Op in Villars-sur-Ollon (where I work) ran up to me in excitement to tell me he was now stocking St. Peter's India Pale Ale, fresh from Bungay in Suffolk, especially for me and my English friends. I had a bottle today, waiting for those pesky red admirals to turn up, and I have to say it is the most delicious bottled beer I've tasted. Butterfly trips will never be the same again.
Luckily, though I always give up alcohol for Lent, I long ago managed to convince myself that Sundays don't fall in Lent.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:57 pm
by essexbuzzard
Brilliant Guy,just brilliant! I definately want to meet up with you in CH one of these days,and shake your hand-and see a few butterflies,of course! Cheers!
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:25 pm
by Padfield
Thanks for your enthusiasm, Essexbuzzard - I look forward to the meeting!
I managed again to get down to the Rhône Valley between lessons today, to see if the grizzled skippers were indeed on the wing yet. To my surprise, they weren't. Conditions were perfect, the foodplant was out and I inspected half a dozen of the most precocious sites but not a sniff. Admittedly, it is early still - the end of March is more typical - but in 2008 they appeared (synchronously at two different sites, in some numbers) on 2nd March so it wasn't unreasonable to think the recent warm spell might have brought them out already. However, in 2007 winter had come early and there probably wasn't a third brood of grizzlies. Last year winter came very late, bringing out a flush of third broods. Perhaps the first emergers in an early year are those that might have constituted a third brood in the previous year. I'll keep a close eye on the sites and see when they do begin flying this year.
Otherwise, Queens were out in great numbers, small tortoiseshells in greater and about half a dozen large tortoiseshells cruised past me during the brief time I had on site. Just two small whites and one probable southern small white were flying (I didn't count the SSW officially as that because it was a flight view and though I took it to be a male SSW it could conceivably have been a female SW). The only confirmed new species for the year was a female brimstone, which did a fly-past shortly before I left the valley and returned to my maths lessons in the mountains.
My local patch hit the headlines today for the worst of reasons - the tragic coach accident at Sierre. What an utterly unforeseeable, shocking thing to happen at the end of a week's skiing holiday in perfect conditions and such beautiful surroundings.
Guy
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:55 pm
by Reverdin
This tradgedy doesn't seem to fit in such a place full of beautiful memories.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
Re: Padfield
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:12 pm
by David M
padfield wrote:My local patch hit the headlines today for the worst of reasons - the tragic coach accident at Sierre. What an utterly unforeseeable, shocking thing to happen at the end of a week's skiing holiday in perfect conditions and such beautiful surroundings.
Yes, it's been the headline story over here too. I can't bear to watch the news bulletins right now as it just makes me want to cry, particularly as there are parents who still don't know if their child was amongst those killed.
Re: Padfield
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:06 am
by Roger Gibbons
Having been through that tunnel quite a few times, I will look at it a little differently in future. It seems strange as the A9 is (by UK standards) a very quiet motorway and one would have expected that if an accident were to have happened it would have been on the mountain roads in the Val d’Anniviers. In July I am staying a few days in Vissoie, just a couple of km from the St Luc site where they were skiing. It will be quite a sombre experience.