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October 2020
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:19 pm
by David M
Doesn't look to be a promising start to the month, with wind and rain forecast for many.
Let's hope things improve so that we can all marvel at just how many Small Coppers are about this autumn!
Re: October 2020
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 1:10 pm
by Stevieb
Re: October 2020
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:23 pm
by zigzag_wanderer
Spotted this today - birthday card from my daughter.
She's very kindly making up for the fact that the everlasting pea i tried to grow to tempt a stray up from Brighton was not a roaring success.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 8:02 pm
by David M
Stevieb wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 1:10 pm..Not the best specimen, but it's a start David
Hey....it's October! We'll happily accept anything copper-coloured.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 8:07 pm
by Stevieb
David M wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 8:02 pm
Stevieb wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 1:10 pm..Not the best specimen, but it's a start David
Hey....it's October! We'll happily accept anything copper-coloured.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 9:26 pm
by Matsukaze
A Small Copper and several whites, both Large and Small, in the garden today. Small Copper has not done well here this year but this is the third in the last week or so.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 10:14 pm
by millerd
Two Small Coppers on my local patch near Heathrow today, joined by several Common Blues, a Small Heath and two Clouded Yellows.
However, the traditional autumn butterflies that usually throng the ivy flowers at this time of year - Red Admirals and Commas - were completely absent.
Cheers,
Dave
Re: October 2020
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:47 pm
by Jack Harrison
2nd October. Several Peacocks and Tortoiseshells on the Moray Firth south coast. And this when I got back home on my garden fence. Very fresh so almost certainly second summer generation
Jack
Re: October 2020
Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2020 8:25 am
by downland boy
Earlier this week I happened upon a mating pair of Vapourer Moths in an East Sussex wood, an event that I have not come across in the wild before. The next day, I returned to observe the female ovipositing. Nigel Kemp.
http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk
Re: October 2020
Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2020 11:26 am
by Matsukaze
Is that bracken being used for oviposition? I know Vapourer larvae eat many things, but had not heard of them using ferns before (although perhaps the fairly mobile larvae will move on to something else).
Re: October 2020
Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2020 2:28 pm
by downland boy
Hi Matsukaze,
The cocoon is just visible on the left side of the second image and was covered in eggs....the female has just carried on laying her eggs on the surrounding foliage. You are right, the larvae will wander off to find their own foodplant. I doubt they will choose the bracken but more likely they will feed on the bramble that grows beneath.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2020 10:29 pm
by David M
Jack Harrison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:47 pm2nd October. Several Peacocks and Tortoiseshells on the Moray Firth south coast. And this when I got back home on my garden fence. Very fresh so almost certainly second summer generation
For once, your distance from the south of the UK paid dividends, Jack.
Friday was awful here, and today has been even worse. Even the birds were in hiding!
Re: October 2020
Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2020 4:45 pm
by Deborah
A Clouded Yellow, 4 Speckled Woods, a single Small Copper and a few whites seem to have escaped Storm Alex. And I’ve still got two Swallowtail caterpillars in their final instant on my carrots.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2020 4:45 pm
by Deborah
Deborah wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 4:45 pm
A Clouded Yellow, 4 Speckled Woods, a single Small Copper and a few whites seem to have escaped Storm Alex. And I’ve still got two Swallowtail caterpillars in their final instars on my carrots.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 3:56 pm
by David M
Deborah wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 4:45 pm..And I’ve still got two Swallowtail caterpillars in their final instant on my carrots
Excellent, Deborah. Be nice if you could find the resulting pupae.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 5:14 pm
by Jack Harrison
More evidence as to why Small (and Large) Whites are scarce in this northern part of Scotland.
It seems likely that the main larval foodplant these days is Nasturtium as brassica crops are no doubt heavily sprayed with insecticide. Nasturtium withers at the first frost so obviously then it is no longer available as a caterpillar food.
This fellow was just 2 centimetres long today.
The first frosts will be any day now. So he might not make it as far as the pupation stage.
I have in fact saved him and he's now on Nasturtium in the greenhouse.
Jack
Re: October 2020
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 6:13 pm
by David M
Jack Harrison wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 5:14 pm
More evidence as to why Small (and Large) Whites are scarce in this northern part of Scotland.
It seems likely that the main larval foodplant these days is Nasturtium as brassica crops are no doubt heavily sprayed with insecticide. Nasturtium withers at the first frost so obviously then it is no longer available as a caterpillar food.
This fellow was just 2 centimetres long today. 20-10-06-053-Small White.jpg
The first frosts will be any day now. So he might not make it as far as the pupation stage.
I have in fact saved him and he's now on Nasturtium in the greenhouse.
Good work, Jack. Interesting (if sad) observation regarding the LHP.
Re: October 2020
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 7:27 pm
by Maximus
Re: October 2020
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 7:59 pm
by millerd
Clouded Yellows are still flying on my local patch near Heathrow. Not much sunshine today which assisted in tracking this one down...
A better forecast for tomorrow...
Cheers,
Dave
Re: October 2020
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:11 pm
by Sylvie_h
A sunny morning here in Swansea and on my ivy in the front garden, I counted 6 Red admirals, 1 small tortoiseshell, 1 small white. Lots of Ivy bees also (Colletes hederae). I also saw one speckled wood in my back garden at lunch time !