July 2015

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Philzoid Hopefully the weather will be better for next weekend and I can come flying over for a chance to pick up my own Wood Whites for the tally

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

An unexpectedly productive couple of hours at the relatively nondescript summer site of Castle Meadows in Abergavenny on Saturday 25th July.

Species seen were:

Meadow Brown, Hedge Brown, Ringlet, Speckled Wood, Large White, Small White, Green Veined White, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Common Blue, Small Skipper and....Essex Skipper, which is a species I've not seen here before:

I saw over a dozen of them, so they've clearly set up home this far west in Monmouthshire. There should be a few next year too if this is anything to go by:

[Greenie]

Just managed an hour on West Wickham Common late afternoon , with the sun showing occasionally , but still very windy .
I was hoping for Purple Hairstreak , but had to settle on 10/15 very active Holly Blue , about evenly split male and female .
I found them on an area of heathland surrounded by tall trees including Holly . They seemed to be nectaring on the Heather , then I noticed
one female egg-laying on one of the young shoots . I waited for her to move off , then found her egg tucked between the young buds .
Before leaving , I found a second female laying .
I've seen them laying on Holly , Ivy , Dogwood and Gorse , but this was a first .

[bugboy]

Just managed an hour on West Wickham Common late afternoon , with the sun showing occasionally , but still very windy .
I was hoping for Purple Hairstreak , but had to settle on 10/15 very active Holly Blue , about evenly split male and female .
I found them on an area of heathland surrounded by tall trees including Holly . They seemed to be nectaring on the Heather , then I noticed
one female egg-laying on one of the young shoots . I waited for her to move off , then found her egg tucked between the young buds .
Before leaving , I found a second female laying .
I've seen them laying on Holly , Ivy , Dogwood and Gorse , but this was a first .

Thats a fascinating observation. I don't think I've ever heard of Heather being used as a food plant for the Holly Blue. Just had a quick browse through my personal library and can't find any referance to it. Would be interesting to know how those resulting larvae get on.

[David M]

...then I noticed one female egg-laying on one of the young shoots . I waited for her to move off , then found her egg tucked between the young buds .
Before leaving , I found a second female laying .
I've seen them laying on Holly , Ivy , Dogwood and Gorse , but this was a first .

That's extremely interesting stuff, Greenie (not to mention a beautifully marked specimen to boot!)

[Pete Eeles]

Couldn't agree more!

Cheers,

- Pete

[adrian riley]

Just managed an hour on West Wickham Common late afternoon , with the sun showing occasionally , but still very windy .
I was hoping for Purple Hairstreak , but had to settle on 10/15 very active Holly Blue , about evenly split male and female .
I found them on an area of heathland surrounded by tall trees including Holly . They seemed to be nectaring on the Heather , then I noticed
one female egg-laying on one of the young shoots . I waited for her to move off , then found her egg tucked between the young buds .
Before leaving , I found a second female laying .
I've seen them laying on Holly , Ivy , Dogwood and Gorse , but this was a first .

Fantastic observation. In the past, I have seen this species flying over Heather in the New Forest but have never seen it ovipositing thereon. This, of course, bucks the usual mantra of '...a blue butterfly flying low over Heather is most likely to be a Silver-studded...'. However, in my book, I did actually include observations of the rule being broken by Holly Blue.
Cheers,
Adrian

[Mikhail]

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but heather (Calluna) is a well known food plant of the Holly Blue. All my continental books on butterflies list it as a host plant, and I have myself often seen the second brood females laying on it, and have bred them through without problems. The purple marked larvae are beautifully camouflaged among the flowers. I have never known them to lay on any of the Erica species, which flower earlier, possibly because the females choose to lay among unopened flower buds. Jeremy Thomas mentions 'heathers', but am not sure if this is based on definite sightings of females laying on heathers other than Ling.

M.

[bugboy]

Thanks Mikhail. I would quibbel about it being 'well known' but that would just be splitting hairs. I had another look through my library since and since you mentioned his name I had a proper look at the J. Thomas/R. Lewington 'Bible' and on page 150 under the egg-laying chapter he does indeed mention heathers as being used. I've abviously not noticed that before when skimming that species in this book. It's still the only book I have that mentions heathers though!