Badgerbob

[badgerbob]

Yesterday morning I met up with James, B. Rex when I was hoping I would be able to show him a few egg laying Wall Brown. One surprise was an encounter with a late 2nd brood butterfly showing that there has been an overlap of the broods this year. I managed a grab shot of her to show she is wearing, or even perhaps, not wearing the 2nd brood badge. If she wasn't 2nd brood she had been through a tumble drier!! Hard to see how she was still flying.

2nd brood female Wall Brown!!

Shortly after another female was seen to fly into a scrape and appear to be looking to lay but nothing was found after she flew. This happened a few times until we saw one nectaring on Scabious, she then flew into a scrape and we saw the abdomen curl and almost saw the ova pop out. When fresh the ova has a green tinge to it, as shown in the photo.

3rd brood female Wall Brown.

Wall Brown ova. 3 minutes old.

Following this we went searching for Long-tailed Blues. This was interrupted though when we bumped into Bugboy who showed us pictures of a juvenile Red-backed Shrike he had come across. We then concentrated on this very tame individual which was very approachable and which would fly right up to us if it saw a Bee near us. A magical experience and a great find by Bugboy.

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike.

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike with Devil's Coach Horse beetle.

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike showing well!!

More shortly on my blog http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.co.uk

[bugboy]

Great shots Bob, I'm surprised you didn't get it sitting on your finger before you left!

[badgerbob]

It's still there today and is without doubt the most popular bird in Sussex at the moment. I'm glad I saw it yesterday before the crowds descended on Tide Mills!! All the birders in Sussex owe you a drink!!!!!!

[bugboy]

It's still there today and is without doubt the most popular bird in Sussex at the moment. I'm glad I saw it yesterday before the crowds descended on Tide Mills!! All the birders in Sussex owe you a drink!!!!!!

Hahaha, *insert smug face here*! Just as long as they don't go trampling all over the Everlasting Pea!!

[bugboy]

All the birders in Sussex owe you a drink!!!!!!

I will happily accept payment in the form of an equally tame, 100% wild LTB

[badgerbob]

Dream On!!

[badgerbob]

Today, following a pretty wet morning I called up to High and Over and as I was passing I had a little look in the grass tussocks for the Wall Brown larvae. So far this year I have had 4 searches with the most found being 9 on Tuesday this week. Today the larva were clearly not keen on the stiff breeze blowing straight onto the site as I only found two Wall Brown larva. One of these was a much brighter green, so much so that I thought for a while that it was a Speckled Wood larva. I have now been put right with this by Pete, Vince and Bugboy, as well as that nagging doubt that I had right from the start!! Vince believes it to be a 3rd instar about to moult, which is probably why it appears a little different.

Wall Brown larva. 2/2/2017.

Wall Brown larva. 2/2/2017.

http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.co.uk

[bugboy]

Hi Bob, I'm inclined to say that's a Wall cat. Looking through the pictures of Wall cats on here (most of which are taken by you it would seem ) it does seem match up closer to them than to the SW's. There is one by you taken on 30/1/13 which you have noted was about 1.5 cm which does look very similar indeed.

[badgerbob]

Hi Bugs.

I think I agree now. That stripe down the side seems to be right although the brightness of the larva and the darker marking down the top is what bothered me. It was much brighter than all the others I've seen recently but I think it is down to having just moulted. Thanks for coming back to me.

Bob.

[badgerbob]

I can really see now why I struggled to convince myself that the previous larva was Wall Brown. The images attached here from today are without doubt Wall Brown. This one was around 20 feet away from the other one. Note the lack of the darker dorsal stripe which the previous larva has a hint of and was the main reason that I thought it could well be Speckled Wood, this one is also the duller green that is distinctive with the Wall Brown as well as having the small white warts. Certainly the conditions for photographing these tiny creatures was much better today with better light and very little wind.

Wall Brown larva. 4/2/2017.

Wall Brown larva. 4/2/2017.

[NickMorgan]

I am always so impressed with your Wall Brown caterpillar sightings. I can't believe that they can be easy to find. Do you find them up on grass stems like that, or are they deep down in clumps of grass?

[badgerbob]

Hi Nick. They are not so easy to find until you really get your eye in!! Most of the time they are in a clump and sometimes they drop out of sight when the grass is moved slightly. I do try to find them though when they are up a grass stem and by very gently moving the grass they stay put. Most of the time I try to get a rough idea of size and then move on, so as not to disturb them at all. As I now have several photos there is not often a need to take more unless they are feeding or covered in dew. They survive by being extremely slow in their movement. Every grass tussock seems to have spiders in them, one of these spiders I found once with a Marbled White larva in its claws. I'm amazed that so many Wall larva seem to remain undetected.
Thanks for your interest Nick.

[trevor]

Well found and photographed Bob.
Looking forward to the adults later on.
I had some fabulous audiences with all three broods last year. Here's to this year .

See you around,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Interesting Wall cat shots Bob , this is an area I'd like to look into more but it's finding the time Absolutly cracking shots of the Shrike from a few posts back as well

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Lovely early stage images again, Bob. You've certainly got finding these critters down to a fine art!

[badgerbob]

A couple of interesting sightings in recent times.

Firstly a very young Marbled White larva found whilst looking for the Wall larva.

Marbled White larva

Yesterday I found a Green Hairstreak that proved he was a male as he showed enough of the upper-wing to show off his sex brand. I've seen several show some upper-wing but never this much.

Male Green Hairstreak

[David M]

Good find with the larvae, Bob, and yes, that's as much as I've ever seen of a Green Hairstreak upperside. Definitely a male!

[Pauline]

Love that Green Hairstreak Bob but possibly loving the Wall Brown butterfly even more

[bugboy]

That's a saucy Hairstreak, like a Victorian lady showing a bit a ankle

[Wurzel]

Smashing shot of the Greenstreak Bob The sex brand is nicely visible, something I've ever seen apart from in illustrations

Have a goodun

Wurzel