Last but not least

[Padfield]

I got what is almost certainly my last tick for 2010 today, bringing my year total to a close on 206 species. Of those, 38 were only seen in India and one only in England (gatekeeper), leaving 167 on my Swiss list. It was great fun having a twitchy year but now I look forward to spending the autumn gently wandering and photographing!

206 was brown hairstreak. I watched this lovely creature (more of a Dove girl than a pin-up) for some time as she occupied herself with laying eggs all over a stand of blackthorn. She often went right in among the thorny branches, hence her ragged appearance, presumably.







And finally, one of the eggs she laid.



Amazing to think it will sit there for seven months, as first the old leaves drop from the branches, then the Swiss winter descends, then the ice thaws and the sloe flowers burst out, and finally the new leaves appear again in April 2011...

Guy