Pete Eeles

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the info Pete, I was just being lazy and making a supposition as up that way they seem to have their own version of everything

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pete Eeles]

Great Orme

I haven't visited the Great Orme for a few years, and it's been calling me back ever since. It is a unique place; a massive limestone headland that rises up as you drive into Llandudno. Of course, I was here for the endemic subspecies; the Silver-studded Blue (ssp. caernensis) that is characterised by the amount of blue in the females, and the Grayling (ssp. thyone) which flies much earlier than other subspecies and which is characterised by its small size. Given the weather forecast (sunny and hot), I was on site by 0645 and adults were already opening their wings to the sun in "Happy Valley" where there is a massive concentration of Silver-studded Blues. The amount of Rock-rose, which I assume is the larval foodplant here, is something to behold, with its yellow flowers just about everywhere.

Happy Valley

The Silver-studded Blue are in huge numbers and have been for a while, given reports I've read on Twitter. Having said that, I found 3 adults emerging (all male, with no ants in attendance), so many fresh individuals were still to be found. Lots of mating pairs were also found. Some photos below where I deliberately concentrated on the variability found in the female - the amount of blue really kick-starting my interest in variation and, ultimately, evolution, genetics and the like!

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - male

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - male

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - female

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - female

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - female

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - female

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - mating pair

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - mating pair

Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis - male (newly emerged)

Grayling ssp. thyone

Having spent a good amount of time with the Silver-studded Blue and Grayling, I decided that I wanted to really get to know the Orme and, rather than taking the tram or cable car, decided to walk - notching up a much-needed 9 miles in the process. Fortunately, there is a cafe (and pub!) at the summit. It really is a beautiful place and highly recommended. I also managed to spend some time on the south-west corner of the Orme where, again, I managed to find good numbers of Silver-studded Blue, and Grayling were present just about wherever I went. I also notched up ovipositing Painted Lady's, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown and Small Heath and some firsts for my year - Dark Green Fritillary, Ringlet, Large Skipper and Small Skipper.

On top of the Orme - but not quite the summit!

South-west corner of the Orme

South-west corner of the Orme

Later in the day, the sun reduced and the wind picked up, but I revisited Happy Valley before departing. It was around 2pm and, with the cooler conditions, the Silver-studded Blue were gathering in collective roosts - something I've never really seen in any numbers, and it was amazing. There are at least 15 SSBs in the photo below. Great times!

Roosting Silver-studded Blue ssp. caernensis

Cheers,

- Pete

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pete, fantastic report and superb images of the Silver-studded Blues ssp. caernensis...and very timely for me, I am heading there on Sunday for a couple of Days

Cheers,

Neil.

[Pete Eeles]

Excellent - you'll have an amazing time for several reasons, if you've not been there before:

1. SSBs are still emerging
2. It's a great place. Below Happy Valley is a lovely garden, if you or your wife just want to relax, and there is both a cable car and tram to get you to the top. The views are stunning.
3. Most importantly, there are no midges

Look forward to reading your report!

Cheers,

- Pete

[essexbuzzard]

Those are great images,Pete,of the females in particular. I've always wanted to visit the Orme,ever since reading about the SSB there in the original Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington butterflies books,but never had the chance. I saw quite a blue female in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago,but yours are something else. A bit jealous if I'm honest,but thanks for sharing !

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Neil / Mark!

Sometimes I need to sit down and figure out which day of the week it is; there's just so much going on, especially if a) you're into immature stages and b) travel as much as I do, which is my excuse for not posting of late Anyway, first off, an image of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square (makes a change from Scotland!). Just trying to qualify item b) ...

Saint Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow

Next off, some egg images taken at a relatively-local patch (Silchester Common / Pamber Forest). Getting a photo of a White Admiral egg, with the Canon MP-E lens, has been at the top of my list for 7 long months ... I hope it was worth the wait Taken today!

Silver-studded Blue egg, Silchester Common

White Admiral egg, Pamber Forest

And finally, I spent a day at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, with the sole objective of gaining as many brownie points as possible Of course, what I'd forgotten, is that we'd been asked a while ago to provide photos for their butterfly dome and so, here I am, pointing out Vince's contribution of a wonderful series of shots showing an Orange-tip adult emerging from its pupa case. But we did steal the show, in my opinion! In case you're reading this, and are unaware, UKB provides all images in its stock library free of charge to charities (e.g. the RHS) and academia and here is living proof of the impact that each of us can make by making our images freely available. I'll ask for free tickets next time

Hampton Court display

Hampton Court display

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

[Edit] And a 3rd instar Chequered Skipper larva - a rather unique image (even if I say so myself!) showing a) the larva, b) typical feeding damage on the Purple-moor Grass and c) the protective tube where it rests.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

White Admiral at Pamber Forest

The briefest of reports! I've had several outings of late, and several were to Pamber Forest where I've started tagging White Admiral ova and 1st instar larvae as part of an ongoing survey. Various shots below. Today I managed to locate 2 eggs and 5 first instar larvae - not bad for an hour of searching!

White Admiral egg - 2 hours before hatching

The occupant!

1st instar larva covered in frass

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Amazing shots of the little scatophiles, Pete!

I have yet to find an egg in my woods - and don't expect to yet. Yours definitely got a good headstart on mine.

Guy

[bugboy]

Fantastic shots there. I had a look for some eggs at Bookham yesterday but didn't find any. White Admirals do seem to be a bit thin on the ground this year, like so many other species!

[Jack Harrison]

Amazing photos Pete.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Guy, Paul, Jack!

Stockbridge Down

A wonderful butterfly-filled couple of hours spent at Stockbridge Down in Hampshire. Chalk Hill Blue numbers are building up nicely (I saw, literally, hundreds). I found several groups of males tucking into a cow pat, and it was wonderful when the sun went behind a cloud and their wings gently opened up. Just stunning!

Chalk Hill Blues on a cow pat :)

Chalk Hill Blues on a cow pat :)

Essex Skipper is now out in full force, with many females seen ovipositing. Other species included good numbers of Gatekeeper, Ringlet, Meadow Brown and Small Skipper, with the occasional Silver-washed Fritillary Small White, Green-veined White, Large White, Brimstone and Red Admiral thrown in. Marbled White and Dark Green Fritillary are definitely coming to the end of their flight period. A single Small Copper was a nice bonus! Lots and lots of Silver-Y too! Some shots below. The disproportionate number of female Essex Skipper shots was my attempt to help resolve a discussion on a Facebook Group!

Essex Skipper (female)

Essex Skipper (female)

Essex Skipper (female)

Essex Skipper (female)

Essex Skipper (female)

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Maybe I need some cowpats for my wild garden

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

The Golden Skippers - part 2

Despite the apparent paucity of certain species of butterfly this year (Common Blue has definitely been hit hard if my own experiences are anything to go by), I have to say that my year has been jam-packed, simply because I've had a detailed plan (the first for several years) that has typically involved getting to see the immature stages of several species.

Over the last week or so, I've been concentrating on the golden Thymelicus skippers - specifically, Small, Essex and Lulworth. The latter has taken me on a number of trips to one of the most beautiful parts of the British Isles, around Lulworth Cove. The cove itself is just stunning, but the climb up to Binden Hill, above the cove and a hotspot for the Lulworth Skipper, is well worth the reward. The protracted flight period of this species means that, whenever you visit, you're guaranteed to see a good number of pristine adults.

Lulworth Cove - from below

Famous for the Lulworth Skipper!

Lulworth Cove - from above

However, I wasn't here for the adults, per-se, but for a sight of their eggs! My most recent trip was with Mark Colvin, who was first to find a female acteon ovipositing. We were somewhat-surprised to find it laying 8 eggs in the sheath of a dead blade of Tor-grass (the larval foodplant) rather than anything more green - a pattern that I saw repeated later in the day, where eggs were also laid in the sheath of a dead blade. Despite several grass blades being "considered" they were all rejected for some reason.

Tor-grass "rising" out of the chalk downland

The "shiny" leaves of Tor-grass are quite distinctive

Female Lulworth Skipper (record shot)

Male Lulworth Skipper (record shot)

Female Lulworth Skipper ovipositing

Lulworth Skipper ova

Lulworth Skipper ova

Several Small Skipper were also seen ovipositing, and I always find it an amazing sight, watching the female land on a grass sheath, and then spiral down, constantly probing the sheath for the right level of "tightness" before either flying off, or laying with her antennae pointing purposefully forward. Pentax Papilio binoculars are a massive help in following this behaviour.

Small Skipper ova

I've also come across quite a few other notable sightings that I wasn't really looking for - including an Adonis Blue larva, good numbers of Dark Green Fritillary, a strong colony of Wall and the ubiquitous Red Admiral that seems to be popping up at just about every site I visit right now, as we see new migrants coming in and the offspring from an earlier influx taking flight.

Male Wall

Some other shots thrown in, taken in the garden!

Large White ova on Nasturtium

Small White ovum on Nasturtium

Cheers,

- Pete

[essexbuzzard]

Love the Golden Skipper egg shots,Pete! I have had the pleasure of watching Lulworths egg laying myself. I don't have the capabilities of taking such great images as yours,but to see it taking place is a enjoyable experience anyway.

[Jack Harrison]

Incredible ultra-macro shots Pete. You might already explained how you achieve these pictures but please give us a resume of your techniques.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Mark!

Jack - the setup and process is typically as follows:

Canon 7D Mk.1.
Canon MP-E 65mm macro.
Tripod.
Remote release cable.
Subject held solidly in place using a Wimberley Plamp.
A sheltered subject (not always easy in the field).
Several shots taken in RAW at different focus points, usually at around f4 (to keep the shutter speed high).
Images imported into Lightroom.
Images exported out of Lightroom as unmodified TIFFs (required by Zerene Stacker, which doesn't work with RAW files). Each file is around 120MB.
TIFFs imported into Zerene Stacker and stacked - the output file is around 50MB.
Resulting image is imported into Lightroom and adjusted accordingly (cropped, sharpened etc.).

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Eh yes! A little beyond my capabilities.

If you don't mind Pete, I'll leave you to take the pictures and just enjoy the results.

A thought. A modern publication of butterfly early stages (photos) is long overdue. You wouldn't make any money out of it but future generations of butterfly enthusiasts might simply refer to "Eeeles" in the same way that we talk about "South" or "Ford". I have no doubt "Hulme" will join that exalted company in due course.

Jack

[MikeOxon]

the setup and process is typically as follows:

Pete (and others), if you've not done so already, I suggest visiting the 'Microsculptures' exhibition at the Oxford Museum of Natural History. This shows amazing micro-photography of various colourful insects (set specimens, unfortunately), using very sophisticated techniques. There is a video describing the process at http://microsculpture.net/ or see the press release from the OUMNH website for more information about the exhibition (on until 30th October 2016).

Mike

[Padfield]

Pete, if the subject is Wimberly Plamped and the camera on a tripod, and if you have time one day, could you try taking two sets of pictures, moving the camera slightly laterally between sets (but still centred on the egg, so turning the camera slightly)? If you send me two finished shots of the same egg, from slightly different angles, I can process them into a single 3D shot of the egg, viewable either as an anaglyph or through any suitable two-lens stereo viewer (I use one sold some years ago and designed by Brian May, of Queen - a personal hero of mine!).

The distance moved laterally should represent the degree of arc between two eyes, imagining the object to be the size it will appear to be. In the case of an egg, this would be eye separation if the camera is about metre from the egg but proportionately less if the camera is closer. If the camera is, say, 10cm away from the egg, a movement of about 1cm would be perfect.

Only if you have time, one rainy day. I think it would be wonderful to see these beautiful structures in 3D.

Guy