Zonda

[Zonda]

Yesterday, the 8th of April 2010, i snapped my first butterfly pic of the year. Although i have had Brimstones and Small Torts in the garden on previous days. I caught this courting couple with my bird lens from the hide.

[Zonda]

Had a stroll around this afternoon (only for 30 mins). Spotted a couple of Long-tailed Tits nest building, and a Reed Bunting,, only two butterflies,,, a Small Tort, and a Brimstone. Bit disappointed, as it seemed a bit quiet,, given the warm spring sunshine.

[traplican]

I wont only add a link to Kingcombe Center activity in the Ždánice, Czech Republic (it is close to me cca 31 km as the crow flies or 50 km by car).

[Zonda]

Hmmm,,, strangely, i never left Dorset in England. When i do, i get terribly constipated.

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Zonda - if these entries are your personal diary, you need to create a topic called "Zonda" and post entries in that

Cheers,

- Pete

[Zonda]

OK Pete

[Zonda]

Today i spotted my first Orange Tip of the year. Didn't manage a pic, as it was gone like a shot.

[Zonda]

Today, i found a small piece of sheltered meadow, between a railway embankment and a river. This small piece of meadow was sprinkled with common rush and Cuckoo flowers. On closer inspection i observed 6-8 female Orange Tips, and 2 or 3 males quartering this small field. I managed to get some average shots of the two sexes in this field. My question to experts would be,,,,, where do they mate, and when? Although there was a lot of interaction between the sexes, i never witnessed mating.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Zonda,

I wouldn't consider myself an expert on the love-life of the Orange Tip, but I have seen some rather fruity pictures of them . All of the females you would have seen in the meadow will have been mated, and were probably being 'hassled' by males. As with all 'white family' butterflies, if a male becomes too persistent, she will land and raise her abdomen high in the air ("no thanks"), making a connection impossible.

Mating will occur at any time of the day, usually as soon as a virgin shows herself - which is very often late morning, once she's 'dried of'' and is airborne for the first time. Mating usually occurs on low scrub or taller vegetation. The event occurs so rapidly after emergence (and is then well-camouflaged/concealed) that the act is only occasionally observed. Thereafter, females are far more elusive than males, only being seen while out on egg-laying runs.

Although all of the 'senses' are used to find mates, the males of different species rely upon different 'primary stimuli' - this being sight in the Orange Tip. Hence the males will often spend a lot of time fruitlessly chasing particularly Green-veined Whites. In species where scent is the 'primary stimulus', female butterflies will often get located and mated even before their wings are fully inflated.

Fritillaries are another group that use sight as the primary sense in mate-finding. A few years back I turned up at a meeting between BC and the RSPB to talk about a Pearl-bordered Fritillary re-introduction. My 'Acme PBF Lure' raised a few eyebrows, but the life-sized cut-out photographs of female PBFs soon brought the males swooping down to investigate - and occasionally settle on the Bugle cunningly placed in the centre of the bucket .
Neil

Acme PBF Lure.jpg (89.5 KiB) Viewed 5065 times

[Zonda]

Thanks for all that info Neil,,, lures eh? What a novel idea.

[Zonda]

Well,,, the lures didn't work as i had hoped. I scanned a female OT in a guidebook, cloned it nine times, printed them, and cut them out with a craft knife. Then i stuck a pin through each cutout and attached them to meadow plants. I'm glad i wasn't observed doing this...
Needless to say, the males weren't in the least interested in the cutouts.

Today i managed to catch an OT male which dwelt on a cuckoo flower for more than two seconds.

[Lee Hurrell]

Looks like it was worth the wait Zonda, great photo!

Cheers

Lee

[Zonda]

Seen a few Speckled woods so far this season. They are skittish little butterflies. This is a shot from a week ago, and i know the head and antennae are out of focus, but the wings show well.


And this,,,, of an active, some would say stroppy little creature.

[Zonda]

Well,,, it seems to have returned to March, with a white frost, and a biting northerly breeze this morning. Saw a white or two, but generally too cold for an Orange tip even. Hopefully the wind will go back southerly soon. Must be really annoying if you've got spuds up.

[Zonda]

I humped the Zonda carcase over the hills around Cerne Abbas today. Loads of gorse, rough grass, with thorn and bramble. Again, (glutton for punishment) searching for the elusive Green Hairstreak. Nothing at all showing on these high gorsey tops, only when i dropped down into the river valley did i get any insect joy. Think i've done both hips in rugging about on steep sheep tracks. This Orange Tip was one of the few highlights.

[Zonda]

Today i was sweating around Durlston again. At one point while i rested, red faced, and puffing on a south facing bank, i was surrounded by Adonis Blues. If you are into photography as well, these little Blues can run you ragged. Crikey,, they were busy. Most of the shots i got were flawed due to a technique problem i am having with the Nikon 100mm micro vr. This is a shot of another abb. taken today at Durlston, it seems to have similar markings to the last one i posted. Maybe there is a small colony of abbs there.

[Zonda]

Oops,,, got it wrong again. The butterfly above is not an abb. it's the true form. Sorry.

[Zonda]

At last a decent Dingy Skipper shot, taken at my local chalk pit.

[Zonda]

At Durlston Country Park in Dorset today, it clouded over as i arrived, some of the blues were quite tatty.


And some of the Blues were pristine.



And when the wind swayed the grasses, the Dingy's had to hold on.... I think the caption would be,,, 'Fred,,, get me off,,, my skirt's gonna blow up'.

[Zonda]

Saw my first Large Skippers this week. Proper little posers. I think this is a male.