It was surprisingly easy to find ova - every flowerhead that was well-developed enough had at least 1!

I visited Trumpington Meadows last week, a great site for Small Blues in Cambridge and conveniently within cycling distance of college. We found around 20 adults and lots of eggs on the kidney vetch. blue.jpg blue on hand.jpg I thought it was interesting how the adults live in a very different habit...

It is at least partially developmentally plastic in some populations, this great paper was written on that a few years ago: Kertész, K., Piszter, G., Horváth, Z. E., Bálint, Z., & Biró, L. P. (2017). Changes in structural and pigmentary colours in response to cold stress in Polyommatus icaru...

DSC_0805_edit.jpg In the field today and it's almost solid Yellow Rattle. First Common Blue, Small White, Common Blue Damselfly, also Small Copper and Stonechats. DSC_0833_edit.jpg DSC_0832_edit.jpg DSC_0801_edit.jpg DSC_0744_edit.jpg DSC_0753_edit.jpg DSC_0842_edit.jpg I also saw the Common Blue n...

Untitled.png Back at Lagan Meadows. I saw more Cryptic Wood Whites than last time, and I got some good photos of mating behaviour. DSC_0701_edited.jpg DSC_0705_edited.jpg DSC_0706_darker_cropped.jpg DSC_0711_edited.jpg I also saw some nice damselflies and a Silver Y. DSC_0730_edited.jpg DSC_0695_ed...

Leptidea juvernica has just begun to emerge at the best site I know of within walking distance. I saw this one yesterday.

I was in Lagan Meadows yesterday and saw my first Cryptic Wood White of the year! 20210524_121244.jpg 20210524_121437.jpg The weather was mixed and I was a bit too early to see courtship behaviour like I did last year. Micropterix calthella was out in abundance on Ranunculus and Cardamine flowers. 2...

Back in the field today, everything is just starting to come to life. My experiment scything the grass for the violets seems to have been successful and there are plants in flower further from the hedge than ever before (more than 2m). My dream is to one day have dark green fritillaries but this see...

I was in the field once again yesterday, and the second generation of both Lycaena phlaeas and Polyommatus icarus is in full swing. It seems this year that all of our females conform more or less to Kane's desciption of "var. ceronus of icarus", although in the past there have been browner...

I was in the field today but it ended up being quite dark and showery so there weren't many butterflies out. 20200708_154503[1].jpg I found a lot of Noctua pronuba which is interesting as we didn't use to have this species so it must be a recent colonisation. 20200708_134410[1].jpg I did some scythi...

an update: I scythed along where there used to be lots of violets and found many small plants under the thick grass. Continuing with this management I think they should quickly recover and in fact I found one rosette quite far out from the hedge so I am hopeful they will spread far and wide! 2020070...

Thank you all for your expertise. I wonder have you read that paper on temperature and pigmentation in P. icarus? It makes for an interesting read and similar studies could reveal a lot about other species, I think.

David M wrote: ↑Tue Jul 07, 2020 5:48 am ...reminiscent of the Meadow Browns in the SE of France...

I wonder if it's temperature dependent? Given that second gen adults always seem much more orange than first gen and we've had so much sun recently.

I visited a National Trust property (Rowallane) today with a relatively intact meadow to look for butterfly orchids. There was only this rather old individual as I left it a bit too late. DSC_02511.jpg However, there were many butterflies, mostly ringlets and meadow browns. DSC_02301.jpg DSC_02141.j...

Something which no-one here seems to have mentioned is that male Common Blues (in NI at least) do this very distinctively as they open their wings to bask. This is the only time I have seen the behaviour although I'll have to look out for it more having read this thread. It has always confused me wh...

Back on the subject of mariscolore, I have just realised that British Common Blue females have highly reduced orange lunules, whereas in our females these are bright and have a much more well-defined boundary. Contrast this with the normally touted distinction with greater coverage of blue scales in...

I visited Ballyhornan Coastal Path today. This is a lovely site which I had never been to before, and I discovered it as there are several records for Hemaris tityus from here (it seems I was too late today to see these). I was rewarded with a huge number of Common Blue (including some strong marisc...

I get the impression that it is a lack of competition rather than shade that they require, as some of them are growing on quite sunny slopes. I think you're right on this, as the only thing that has changed is the length of the grass. I've recently gotten out my grandad's old scythe, so I'm going t...

They're great, aren't they? We're lucky to have such a great site in out field.

Speaking of mariscolore, I believe this is arguably one. In the field today. Lots of males about and 1 or 2 females but they're difficult to spot. I have found what I'd call mariscolore var. ceronus at this site several years ago as well - see below.