www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Bit of a stab without a book to hand and having not seen one before, but could the unknowns be alcon blues?

Thanks Guys and will take a look John especially now i have my new book

Cheers

Andy

A rest from The Pyrenees, here are a some pictures from the last week of so with a few butterflies thrown in.
Cheers

Andy

Lovely Small Copper Andy (any blue spots ? ) and very artistic saw fly.

Decided to sacrifice my Brussel sprouts to butterfly gods especially as there are no Sprouts forming . Anyway spent about an hour watching this female Large White who kept flying around then disappearing to other areas of the garden. From the 5 large plants she eventually decided on a place to lay which is a very popular leaf, 4 lots of eggs already and east facing not sure that that matters except to get the morning sun. Here is a sequence of shots of the batch she laid.

There was probably a 10 second pause between each egg so the whole process took some time Close up and very interesting on the placing of the eggs feeling around with here abdomen! And the last one has been laid Not the best picture and have not counted yet, will keep an eye open and try to photo the birth More from the same leave better image to see the structure Cheers

Andy

A selection from the last few days nearly all Moth larvae for those moth'ers out there. Still trying to work out if I have sallow or poplar kittens so if anyone can confirm either way. Nearly all located in the local park which is handy.
Just love these tropical looking beauties
Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy. I'm a week behind on this one - sorry! There are so many diaries and I don't get round to looking at them all before they stop appearing on the new posts page.

Your first 'not sure' blue, a page back, is amandus, as is, I think, the rear butterfly in the next picture. As FISHiEE says, the other one looks like alcon (so rebeli). I can't remember what date this trip was. I always see amandus on my trips to the Pyrenees in July and August but rebeli is usually over by mid-July in Switzerland.

Guy

Thanks for that Guy and appreciate that we rely on you for help so thanks again, the trip was July and I will update accordingly I have held of putting the last two days of the trip pics up because I did notice the amount of traffic here and that you were replying to a lot of them.

Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy

That is an impressive haul of larvae I assume your local park is Knowle Park. Was the Wasp Spider there as well? I have never managed to find one of those.

Hope your Sallow is doing ok

Hi Jack yes and yes the Sallows are doing well and will be ready for next year I have made a walk in cage to protect any larvae which is outside so a natural environment for them as i fancy rearing some eyed hawk as I have found lots of the larvae this year and hope it will be the same next and the park is Knowle so if you want me to show you around let me know as your just around the corner.

Cheers

Andy

Day 6 of the Pyrenees with the Graylings being the issue with there ID's instead of the Blues and frits that I need help/confirmation with.

From the garden of the accommodation The village where we stayed pictured from a site across the valley
Cheers

Andy

Day 6 pt2.

Feeding station for the local Vulture population, I think I will stick with bird feeders for the sparrow's Thanks

Andy

andy brown wrote:
Feeding station for the local Vulture population

Wow. That looks like the aftermath of a lion kill!

Your Furry Blue upperside shows conspicuous androconial patches so must be a male. In which case it must, I assume, be Ripart's Anomalous Blue. Are you sure about the underside shot, because that could be Ripart's as well?

M.

I'll stick my neck out and say that female fulgens is actually a male ripartii ... The androconia are quite conspicuous.

Good to see the vultures. Some years back the Spanish law changed so farmers had to clear dead animals, leaving sparse pickings for the vultures. They can indeed be frightening. I once lay on a hillside filming vultures on the opposite hill only to find that one by one they had drifted over to my side - and when I got up there were about forty of them circling low over my head.

Guy

EDIT - my post crossed with Misha's.

Thank you gentlemen, I had not considered the Ripart's Anomalous Blue an yes the underside shot is the same butterfly so that's great as it was one we had not identified on the trip. I will have to look again at some of the ones I have put down as Forster's and still need to work out the Grayling posted yesterday. The Vultures were everywhere in the sky and coming in from miles around I didn't see that many when in India or Africa so are certainly doing well now they are being supported with the food.

Cheers

Andy

day 6 part 3
Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy. Your first blue is certainly Chapman's. Again, the visible androconia on the upperside leave no doubt - though the discrete black spots set in white in the submarginal markings of the underside hindwing are also a clear indicator.

I strongly suspect Berger's for the yellow, both from appearance and location.

The brown argus appears to me to be a female common blue - and she is on common blue foodplant.

Finally, the fritillary is meadow fritillary, Melitaea parthenoides!

I hope some of these changes at least 1are good news for you!

Guy

Thanks again Guy, I made a pigs ear of this selection , my school report said must try harder!

Cheers

Andy

Your owlfly seems to be Libelloides longicornis. L.macaronius, which has more black on the forewings, does not occur west of Italy. I hesitate to enter the minefield of the Coleoptera, but your mating beetles might be Clytra quadripunctata, Chrysomelidae..

M.