Testudo Man

[Testudo Man]

I hope its not too late for me to do one of these

2013 was my best year yet(Ive only been observing/photographing butterflies for 3 years) so if i should make a mistake ie- on getting the wrong species/sex, then i wont be offended if someone puts me right

I'll try to stck with the years highlights then

The 5th and 6th of March 2013 was my 1st sighting, both Comma and Red Admiral seen.

Note- this year was not that good for early sightings, compared to 2012! Last year i photographed/sighted Red Admiral on the 11/1/12! Which BBC Springwatch on Flickr favoured(but its no big deal) they favour 1000's of photos, it was nice all the same.

This was the Comma seen on the 5th.

The next photo of the Comma was a favourite by BBC Springwatch Flickr, they chose it as photo of the day on their Twitter and Facebook! Since i dont do either twitter or facebook, it didnt mean anything to me! The photo is just ordinary, but i think i uploaded it when we had all that snow on the ground, so i guess it brightened up someones lives?

Im also keen on photographing UK reptiles, mainly Vipera berus(adders) whilst out looking for snakes, i also look for butterflies too, so its a "win win" situation.

I wont flood this diary with snake photos, thats for another forum, so i will just sneak the odd pic in

Male Adder, one of several seen on the day.

Cheers Paul.

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Great start to your personal diary Paul I've been doing something similar, a month by month look back through the year. I'm looking forward to seeing and reading more as you progress through the year.

ATB

B rex

[David M]

The 5th and 6th of March 2013 was my 1st sighting, both Comma and Red Admiral seen.

You must have been one of the very few to see a Spring Red Admiral.

[Testudo Man]

Great start to your personal diary Paul I've been doing something similar, a month by month look back through the year. I'm looking forward to seeing and reading more as you progress through the year.

ATB

B rex

Thanks very much for that.
Its been such a good year, i would have liked to have started a lot ealier(in the year) but since Ive only just joined this forum, im a late starter Good job i took 100's of photos and kept notes though

I should look at eveyones elses diaries, but instead of viewing there latest entry, i will start at their 1st

Cheers Paul.

[Testudo Man]

The 5th and 6th of March 2013 was my 1st sighting, both Comma and Red Admiral seen.

You must have been one of the very few to see a Spring Red Admiral.

I guess i must ...i take it not many people had early red admiral sightings for 2013 then? I would say that red admirals had a very bad year, especially with all that snow.
In 2012, I sighted red admirals from january to november(11 months of red admirals) and i was desperate to find a red admiral in december(which would have given me the full 12 months for 2012)...but it was not meant to be...However, whilst out looking for Bramblings on the 16th of December, a butterfly flew past me, my son, and 2 other people. We all agreed that it was a Peacock!!!...not the red admiral I was after, but 12 months of butterfly sightings will do me
I gave chase after that peacock, because, what is a mans word...without the proof of a photo?? 20 minutes of searching, didnt see the peacock again...or get the all important shot!

Im glad I write down notes, which accompany my dated photos.

Here is what i wrote regarding my sightings of Butterflies on the 5/3/13 -


Lovely to see my 1st Comma for the year.
With wall to wall sunshine on the 5th of march, there had to be a few butterflies on the wing.
I sighted this very close to one of the snakes(adders). It would be great to capture a shot of a butterfly on a snake!!! who knows, it might happen one day

I saw 1, but possibly 2 Commas on the day, and when i returned to work(later in the afternoon) I saw a Red Admiral too, which was a bonus.

This photo is not cropped, just re-sized down.



Cheers Paul.

[Hoggers]

Hi Paul, I think we are both in Kent but I didn't see my first Red Admiral until 17th April this year and I've only seen a handful of them all season. They've had a hard time of it down here after that dreadful Winter.

Lovely photos, by the way and a warm welcome to the PD Forum!

[Wurzel]

Great start to the PD Looking forward to your other highlights.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Paul,

....I hope its not too late for me to do one of these ...

Never too late

A great start and a few posts over the winter will set you up nicely for next year

Cheers,

Neil.

[Testudo Man]

Hi Paul, I think we are both in Kent but I didn't see my first Red Admiral until 17th April this year and I've only seen a handful of them all season. They've had a hard time of it down here after that dreadful Winter.

Lovely photos, by the way and a warm welcome to the PD Forum!

Cheers for that, yes Kent is a great place for butterflies.

I agree, this is a bad year for red admirals(saying that, whilst at work today, I saw one!).
I think i was very lucky to see that red admiral on the 5th of march 2013, it was a small window in time, the weather that day was quite warm, i think that red admiral came out briefly on the strength of the warm weather, only to have probably perished(along with many others) because after the 5th an 6th of March, the weather took a turn for the worst. In fact, i think it was a month later that i saw my next butterfly for 2013! Even though i still carried on finding snakes/lizards through March...yes the reptiles were out basking near the snow!!! I dont think there were any butterflies on the wing, because it was just too cold!

[Testudo Man]

Great start to the PD Looking forward to your other highlights.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks a lot for that.

[Testudo Man]

Hi Paul,

....I hope its not too late for me to do one of these ...

Never too late

A great start and a few posts over the winter will set you up nicely for next year

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers, hopefully by this winter, i should have caught up.

[Testudo Man]

WOW.................where did those 9 years go?!................I find it hard to commit to a thread like this, but im gonna give it a try!

So, i thought i would resurrect this thread of mine, on account of Small Tortoiseshell activity in my garden this season. Having aggravated an old injury to my back/disc recently, i was forced to take some time off work, an because of that, i spent some time "garden watching" for Butterflies etc etc.
I was lucky enough to observe a Small Tortoiseshell laying eggs on one of my Stinging Nettle patches (back in early June) but didnt take much notice for awhile, until i saw evidence of feeding. Over time, i found approx 6 batches/broods of caterpillars, which varied in size/age, an i captured a hell of a lot of images along way. This is the first time i have ever watched any caterpillar activity, but im glad to have put the effort in, because it was both intriguing an rewarding.

I realize this type of Small Tortoiseshell behaviour, has probably been recorded by others, millions of times before (probably over a 100 years worth!) but as i said...its an actual first for me, an who knows, maybe i have something to "add to the pot".

Female laying her eggs on the 10/6/22 (i didnt see any other egg laying evidence, other than this 1st one) but obviously more batches of eggs were laid.
No images are cropped, an these are S.O.O.C (straight out of camera). Cheers Paul.

[Testudo Man]

Fast forward to the 29/6/22, an things have moved on at a rapid pace. The 1st brood is doing well, those Cats appear to be 3rd instar? But if i make a mistake on what the correct caterpillar instars are, im sure someone will inform me (which will be appreciated). As ive said, this is the 1st time i have had any experience with Cats/Instars, so im bound to get things wrong

Good news, 2 other batches of cats found, the 2nd in another clump of nettles, an the 3rd in the same clump. Whilst the 2nd batch is quite a large number of cats, the 3rd batch is very small(no more than 10 cats).

Some more pics, no images are cropped. Cheers Paul.

Main group.

Smaller group.

Later on in the day, an the cats seem to be "tucking up" for the evening, an looking like they might molt again real soon?

The new batch (2nd brood) look to be a large colony, an im not sure, but are these 2nd instar? or very freshly moulted 3rd instar?

Little did i know at that time, what fate the whole of the 2nd batch would succumb to!!!

[Wurzel]

Good to see you back Testudo and hopefully your back is on the mend. I'm guessing that the 2nd batch presented you with a miniature version of Aliens

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Resurrect away, Paul! The more people contribute, the better, and early stages are things most don't study so even more reason to post!

[Testudo Man]

Resurrect away, Paul! The more people contribute, the better, and early stages are things most don't study so even more reason to post!

Cheers for that.

Good to see you back Testudo and hopefully your back is on the mend. I'm guessing that the 2nd batch presented you with a miniature version of Aliens

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks, backs almost there now!
I know what you mean, but in this case, it was more like Area 51, rather than Aliens

[Testudo Man]

30/6/22, an the 1st batch showed zero activity throughout the day, i guess they were making ready to molt.
Main group.

Smaller group.

2nd batch started the day slow, but soon turned into eating machines...good job the garden had plenty of Nettles to go round!

[David M]

Great stuff, TM, I hope you will have further images as the larvae mature.

[Testudo Man]

Great stuff, TM, I hope you will have further images as the larvae mature.

Cheers David, as i said, i took heaps of images!

On to the 1/7/22, an the 4th instar of the main groups had emerged/molted, wow!! they looked awesome up close too!

At this point i should say that im using onboard camera flash(with home made Pringles diffuser). Whilst i dont use flash for butterflies, i do use flash for marco/close up.

Some pics of those fresh 4th instar...no images are cropped, cheers Paul.
Main group.

smaller group.

[David M]

Excellent continuation, Paul. I trust things advanced without any major casualties?