Matsukaze

[peterc]

David,

I ordered a buckthorn sapling from https://3fatpigs.co.uk/ (Beechwood Nurseries) in 2014 so you could try them as well.

ATB

Peter

[Matsukaze]

16 species of butterfly in a couple of days last week in Malaga province, southern Spain, not all yet identified and some never will be - Geranium Bronze, Holly Blue, Large White, Small White, Brimstone/Cleopatra (female flying by at speed), Speckled Wood, Small Copper, Wall (in good numbers), Black-eyed Blue (single male patrolling a thorny bank with considerable vigour and persistence), Clouded Yellow, Scarce Swallowtail feisthameli, Green-striped White, Dappled(?) White (impersonating the previous species), unidentifiable small blue, Spanish Festoon (unexpected fly-by whilst we were having coffee in a garden centre...), Red Admiral. Photos to follow.

[Matsukaze]

Moth with punk tendencies - can anyone provide an ID?

Male Black-eyed Blue

Green-striped White

Dappled White - presumably crameri, not tages

feisthameli

El Bronzo

[Wurzel]

Interesting to see the Black-eyed Blue, that's not a species often mentioned

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Great to see the Black-eyed Blues, Matsukaze. A lovely species that I have only encountered once, in the Var in mid-April 2015.

[Chris Jackson]

The Western Dappled White (E. crameri) looks good to me, with the angled hindwing costa.
Chris

[Mikhail]

The pretty little moth appears to be Amephana aurita.

M.

[Padfield]

Are we going to see that unidentifiable little blue?

Guy

[David M]

Are we going to see that unidentifiable little blue?

Attention to detail as ever, Guy!

Yes, can we see the lycaenid in question, Matsukaze?

[Matsukaze]

No photo, so unfortunately not...it was perched behind this stuff, so I did not care to approach in any great hurry, and then it flew:

Male celina would be a best guess. It certainly wasn't any of the other blue species I saw.

Thanks to everyone for the ID help!

[Matsukaze]

Freshly-emerged Lychnis moths. I collected the caterpillars from bladder campion seed-heads last summer and they emerged today. One has already flown...

[Wurzel]

Wonderfully cryptic markings on the moth Matsukaze Although I think I've been watching too much Mighty Boosch as I can see evil face of the Hitcher

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Fantastic camouflage, Matsukaze. Well done for rearing them to adulthood.

[Matsukaze]

Thanks folks.

A bit of backstory here...there are a few related moths that feed on the seed-heads of various campions. Most use the various species of white campion, that are fast disappearing from Somerset, but this one extends its feeding range to red campion as well. In the summer of 2015 I collected several Lychnis caterpillars from the seed-heads of red campion and later, as an afterthought, some less-developed ones from the seed-heads of the only sizeable patch of bladder campion that persists locally (I was trying to see if Netted Pug still survived in the area - check out photos of it to understand why). The small bladder campion larvae pupated shortly after the red campion larvae but then emerged in the autumn, whereas the red campion larvae overwintered. At this point I thought I was on to something interesting - are the seeds of the white campions more nutritious, and is this why the Lychnis larvae that fed on them grew up faster and got in an extra generation, and why the other seed-head feeders are restricted to the white campions?

2016 didn't really bear this out, unfortunately, as there was no second generation at all - perhaps the earlier spring had something to do with that. After I had collected the first larva from the wild and it had eaten through the food in its seed-heads, I made the mistake of collecting a bunch more bladder campion seed pods from my garden to give it food to continue to grow. Another 11 caterpillars were inside...I ended up having to buy in seed to feed the caterpillars. I am glad they have started to emerge.

My garden is now full of assorted Caryophyllaceae, significant amounts unidentified and of alien origin. It will be interesting to see what the moths choose to lay their eggs on this summer...

Lychnis larva in the wild, approaching full size, on seed-pod of red campion

feeding up

Emergency accommodation!

[Matsukaze]

A remarkably beautiful dragonfly - immature male Black-tailed Skimmer, this evening.

[Wurzel]

A great find Matsukaze, a species I've yet to encounter

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Matsukaze]

Some days you just get lucky. Freshly-emerged Hornet Moth just outside work in Bath today. I've known they were here since 2009, as they make distinctive emergence holes at the base of poplar trees, but this is the first time I've ever seen the adult.

[David M]

What a beautiful insect, Matsukaze. Many thanks for sharing.

[Matsukaze]

A nice find...

[David M]

Now you're talking! Butterflies and wine combined!

What could possibly be finer!