www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Amazing late butterflies in the Rhône Valley - many of them my latest ever for their species.


It looks all closed up for winter...


... but you have to watch where you tread.


Chalkhill blue was my most surprising find.


This is an Adonis blue brightening up a barren scene!


They were out in good numbers.


Small copper.


Northern brown argus.


Clouded yellow.


Berger's pale clouded yellow.


Speckled wood.


Tree grayling.

In total, there were 14 species flying - definitely my record for November.


Evening falls early in the mountains at this time of year - this picture was taken at 3.40pm

Guy

wow incredible... wish an autumn walk here could provide that !! Those adonis look remarkably fresh

I don't know what it is about the Rhône Valley. At the same latitude in France everything is over. Tim Cowles saw his last tree grayling this year - his latest ever - on 17th September. They were common today here, though nothing like in the numbers of recent weeks.

Here are some surprisingly fresh individuals for the time of year:


Adonis blue.


Wall brown.


Queen of Spain.

I even saw a grayling - a British grayling - my latest ever and way beyond what the books say. It wasn't in very good nick, though. Many butterflies show nicks in the trailing parts of the wings, particularly the hindwings, because of the number of predatory small birds that hang around the meadows and zoom out after them at any opportunity. In the cooler ambient temperature the butterflies are pretty slow at getting away.



Guy

looks like you had a good day, all its done is rain here this week!

love the last adonis blue shot

phil

Thanks, Phil.

Unlike you, I'm not a photographer - rather, a recorder. I use a compact camera and when I'm on my own record pretty well everything I see (see http://www.guypadfield.com/butterflyyear.html). I was actually wondering what a real photographer might have made of the butterflies I saw yesterday. The small copper imitating rusty leaves would have been missed completely, as it only stayed there for about a second. The clouded yellows stayed on each flower head for up to 10 or 20 seconds, but were so low to the ground, and vertical, a tripod would be out of the question (the camera needed to be at ground level). Some of the butterflies posing and sunning on dried, autumn twigs would have made perfect subjects for a photographer, though.

I never lie down to take pictures, or trample vegetation, or chase butterflies (I have a 'three tries and it's out' rule - meaning that if a butterfly eludes me three times because I disturbed it I leave it alone - but if it is disturbed by other things I might keep trying!).

Guy

padfield wrote: I'm not a photographer - rather, a recorder.

You do yourself an injustice Guy, you do take lovely photos.

Those scenic shots are fantastic

Cheers

Lee

I walked a dog with a friend on Saturday and though it wasn't polite to spend my time butterfly-hunting or going for great photos I did see 7 species still flying and catch a few record shots.

Clouded yellows are still common here:


(that's a 'no')


(still 'no')

A possibly interesting observation: In 2009 there were loads of helice around, after five years of continuous breeding in Switzerland. The winter of 2009-10 killed off all the clouded yellows so all the present ones are this year's immigrants or the offspring of this year's immigrants. I have seen no helice at all. It's tempting to conclude that the Swiss climate selectively favours helice so this form builds up during continuous periods of residence.


Walls are still common too. They have a very considerably longer flight-period here than in the UK.

The other species flying were tree grayling, red admiral, small white, common blue and Queen of Spain.



Guy

Autumn has become winter and the butterflies have all gone. Instead...


(Purple hairstreak)


(Brown hairstreak)


(Brown hairstreak)


(Cold)


(Cold)

Guy

Roll on next season... definite promise in the hedgerows

I've been looking for those, Paul, but the branches are always too high. I need to walk with a crook for pulling them down. So far I've found one, already hatched (so it was left over from the summer):



Guy

You guys are doing better than me. Lots and lots of elm and not a single ovum (hatched or otherwise)!

Cheers,

- Pete

Some beautiful shots there. Well done.

Thanks, David.

My book on wintering stages suggests it's quite normal to check 200 branches in a known area for WLH without finding an ovum. They're not as easy as purple and brown, which stand out a mile (especially brown)!

Guy

padfield wrote:Thanks, David.

My book on wintering stages suggests it's quite normal to check 200 branches in a known area for WLH without finding an ovum. They're not as easy as purple and brown, which stand out a mile (especially brown)!

Guy

Is that due to their colour, Guy, or is it that they're simply laid at lower density?

By implication, it is density. He says:

'There are only a few regions in which elms are so numerous that one can search for hours on end. Finding eggs in such regions is distinctly more difficult than in areas with fewer Elm trees. The occurrence of w-album cannot on any account be excluded in mass stands of elms, even after having unsuccessfully examined 200 twigs for eggs'.

Tagfalter suchen im Winter - Gabriel Hermann.

Guy

Interesting! I find WLH in small patches of foodplant, though have never really looked in extensive patches. Could an explanation for its low density in large patches of the foodplant be that it is more vulnerable to parasitoids in large patches?

That is a good theory. A different theory would be that when sufficient foodplant is available, this is not the limiting factor for population growth (for other reasons than parasitism). WLH have quite sophisticated behavioural requirements too, relating to master trees, for example.

I guess only empirical research can determine the true reason.

Guy

I generally find if you spot one ova, then it's odds on there will be several within the area of a few branches, likely from the same female, but you can explore a known area for a while before finding one at all.. I also think most of the flowering Wych Elm they prefer here is above explorable height anyway.
The other day, for the first time I found one on old wood admittedly only 1cm proximal to the usual scar position. The other 7 were all on scar related to flowering twiglets.

That gives rise to another theory - that in dense stands there are more older trees and more eggs are laid out of reach.

Guy

That's the one I would go with