www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi Guy,
My condolences on the passing of your father.
Mike.

So sorry to read of your Father's passing Guy, my condolences.

Wurzel

My sincere condolences Guy.

I'm so sorry to hear your sad news, Guy, but glad to hear that you were all with him.
BWs, Neil

Your father could not have wished for more than to have his family around him.
Probably the best way to go. My sincere condolences Guy.

Trevor

My condolences too, Guy. As others have said, it’s some comfort that he was surrounded by his family.

Take care.

My condolences to you and your family as well Guy.

Neil.

I was very sorry to hear of your loss, Guy. My condolences at what is no doubt a sad and difficult time.

Dave

So sorry to hear of this, Guy. You have looked after him so admirably these last 4 years almost, leaving behind your life in Switzerland to ensure he was well cared for.

I wish you all the best.

We are very saddened to hear this, Guy, and we send you our condolences.

It would have been of great comfort to your father to have you with him in his closing years, and I am sure he appreciated the sacrifice you made in leaving your life in Switzerland to be with him.

Roger and Ann

Thank you all for your very kind messages and PMs.

I needed a breather this week, and Spain seemed doomed with cloud and rain, so I popped back to Switzerland, to spend one day in the Rhône Valley and one day in north Italy. As many have said, dialogue with nature is the best way to reset oneself.

In Switzerland I was greeted by Queens of Spain, Camberwell beauties and mallow skippers, among many other species:







In Italy, it was nettle tree butterflies, chequered blues and green hairstreaks, as well as many more:







My father has had many obituaries. For those who are interested, today’s Telegraph carries a very strong account of his life and work:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries ... c-replica/

Guy (from gate 85 in Geneva airport…)

What a brilliant way to reset Guy That Camberwell is simply sumptuous

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's more than a 'breather', Guy...that's a reset!. What a sweet pill of happiness for you after all the stressful things of late.

Fantastic array of beautiful butterflies in such a short window.

I echo the thoughts of all the others regarding recent events Guy, and am delighted to see you back enjoying the area so dear to you.

Thank you again for your kind thoughts.

I've had very little time recently, and there is now no time to play proper catch-up with this diary, but a few local (Suffolk) piccies from recent times will sort of bring it up to date:

I saw green hairstreaks on the local heaths from 6th May. This one was on Friday 13th, so not such an unlucky day:



Brown arguses flew from 8th:



On 14th I gambled on the Ipswich little blues flying, and so they were:



Kev tells me this is the earliest they have flown in the 4 years he has known them here.

White-letter hairstreak caterpillars have been in short supply this spring, but I've found a few:







This was one of the first, back in mid-April, when they still showed some pink:



Today I spotted a female comma land on elm and appear to lay an egg. On searching, I found she had done just that:



In Switzerland, elm is the preferred foodplant of this species.

And a few other piccies:

A yellowhammer in full song on 9th May:



A sedge warbler on 3rd May:



My last view of the wintering ruff, now buffing itself up for summer (this was 28th March):



A pensive kestrel on 10th April:



And a sparrowhawk high in the sky today:



Guy

A nice collection to bring you back up to speed Guy I know this is a butterfly site but the image of the Yellowhammer is real stand out shot

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Some great images to bring us back up to date, Guy. Nice to see the WLH larvae, and the yellowhammer is a peach of a shot.

Hope most of the tough stuff is behind you now.

Thanks Wurzel and David. It’s always nice to get a bird shot with the mouth wide open like that!

I’m on my way back from another week in Switzerland at the moment. I came out to see some of my students graduate and to give a few lessons and lectures, but I got time to go wandering too. My base was Leysin, a mountain village I’ve never been to before (though I’ve been teaching there remotely for two years now), just across a valley from where I used to live. I spent one of my first days exploring the local region:



(Alpine marmot)



(Grizzled skipper, ab taras)



(Marsh fritillary)



(Duke of Burgundy)



(Alpine grizzled skipper)



(Ring ouzel)



(The top of the local mountain - where I bet wallcreepers fly …)

On other days, when it wasn’t raining, I went back to haunts in the valley, looking for old favourites.

Cardinals are abundant now. It’s quite remarkable. In 2005 I photographed the first Swiss cardinal since 1947. In 2013 I found the epicentre of the population and that was where you had to go to see them. Now, in 2022, they are everywhere in the vineyards and everyone you bump into remarks on them.







Iolas blues are much harder, but I found a few wandering along the valley, visiting the scattered bladder senna plants:





At a site with dozens of Idas blues, I watched a female laying eggs:





Here is one of the males:



There was far too much to include more than a few piccies here. The Rhône Valley in late May is just amazing.



(Turquoise blue)



(Loads of Camberwell beauties)



(Chequered blue)



(Provençal short-tailed blue)



(Rosy grizzled skipper)

I’ll probably post some more when I’ve got back to the UK and processed them. These were all done on the iPad, and posted on the train …

Here’s a chamois to finish. The Alps are just wonderful …



Guy

Wonderful update Guy!

The Rhône Valley in late May is just amazing.

I think in this part of the world May is amazing everywhere - with so much life and energy wherever you look it has to be my favourite month. But yes, I can see that for a number of reasons, not least the butterflies, the Rhone Valley is particularly special!

Fascinating re the cardinals - looking forward to further updates.

Fantastic images Guy - I think the Chequered Blue is top of my wish list Guy That escarpment does look like Wallcreeper habitat and that Ring Ouzel looks like the alpine race

Have a goodun

Wurzel