September 26
WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS
At the start of September, Bob and I went on a wonderful long weekend to Transylvania for a family wedding. Although part of Romania now, it used to be within the Hungarian borders, so in the region we visited, they spoke Hungarian. The picturesque village where the wedding was to take place was nestled in the Carpathian Mountains. Traditional farming methods are still the norm in this rural area, with low intensity family farming still common, which doesn't involve the use of pesticides. As a result, there were many wildflower meadows and margins literally teeming with insect life, which was amazing to see. Even though September is late in the butterfly season, and many of the ones we saw were past their best, we had some fabulous walks photographing the insects we found when we weren't involved in family events. On our first evening, in the early evening light, we had a short walk up to the meadow just above where we were staying. One of the first new species for me over the course of the weekend was the Reverdin's Blue (below).
We were able to get out for walks far more often than we'd anticipated, which was a lovely bonus, and I didn't imagine that during the trip I'd see 11 species of butterfly new to me. There were also some new bird species too that I'd not seen before: Red-backed Shrike (photo), Black Redstart, White Wagtail and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I'll try and share some more photos from this trip soon.
Of course, the highlight was the wedding itself with lots of wonderful traditions and memorable moments. The local hospitality and food were fabulous and despite the language barrier occasionally being an issue, it was a wonderful experience and a place that both Bob and I will look forward to returning to sometime in the near future.
The day after we returned home, we were back out with our cameras. We thought we were going to miss seeing a Red-necked Phalarope that had dropped in to West Rise Marsh a few days before. But, thankfully it was still there and we were very lucky to have some nice views of it, when it wasn't completely obscured by the reeds.
There are three species of Phalarope and I'd not seen this one before (only the Grey Phalarope previously). Its winter plumage is very striking.
It was fabulous watching it look for insects sitting on top of the water.
You could tell when it had spotted something, as it dipped its head and made a bee-line for its prey, gliding smoothly through the water.
Gotcha!
Having not seen any Bearded Tits at this site for a few years, it was lovely to snatch some brief glimpses of them as they flew across from reedbed to reedbed. Though, sadly, they stayed low and out of sight. The Migrant Hawkers were also on the prowl around the edge of the lake, hovering for a few seconds before moving on to another spot.
For the most part during this month we stayed locally. There were lots of Wall Brown on the wing, and on one of our walks I noticed the Devil's Bit Scabious was just coming in to flower. I thought it would be lovely to get a photo of a Wall Brown nectaring on one. I would have been happy with a closed wing shot, but an open wing shot was even better. This female didn't stop for long and I was extremely lucky to grab a few photos in time. In fact, I did get an underwing photo as well, of a female together with a male (not mating) also on a flower, which was lovely. The male thought it was going to get lucky but the female had other ideas.
That same day, I spotted this Slow worm on the path right by a gate we were about to walk through. I was quite pleased as I've only seen them before a couple of times. Bob hadn't spotted the worm since he was focused on opening the gate. Thankfully, it didn't slither off immediately, and I was able to take a few photos. It was interesting to notice the around its head and the forked tongue that it occasionally flicked out.
I didn't think I'd see any Long-tailed Blues this year, but a spontaneous trip to Pevensey Bay one day turned out to be really successful. We only saw two individuals, quite some distance apart from each other, but they were stunning. Both were females and very fresh looking. Bob spotted this first one flying around whilst we were having our lunch on a bench near some Everlasting Pea. We were hoping one would show up and it did, though it didn't go near the pea flower. As with other blue butterfly species, the female is more brown.
It wasn't especially sunny and there was a cool breeze, so it wasn't very active. After resting on the leaf for a few moments, it then moved on to a Red Valerian flower and stayed there quite some time. I love the underside of this beautiful butterfly and you can clearly see the 'tails'.
We walked quite some distance further along the beach and struggled to find any more Everlasting Pea. When we eventually did, there was no sign of any Long-tailed Blues. We continued on a bit further, but then decided to turn back. We paused again at the pea and started looking more closely at each of the flowers to check for eggs. Bob spotted one and took some photos. I decided to walk on to the Lucerne (Alfalfa), which we'd spotted not that far away. I was aware that this flower is also a popular one for the Long-tailed Blues because I've photographed them on it before in previous years in other locations. However, there were a lot of Common Blues flying about, making things harder for me. I kept checking each one, just to be sure they were a Common Blue. Just at the point that Bob rejoined me, I saw something different flying and he spotted it too, and asked if that was one. I wasn't sure as I'd not had a chance to ID it yet. He set his bins on it before me and sure enough, it was this lovely female.
We had lots more time with this female, though she was moving about quite a bit, nectaring. Then I noticed her sliding her wings back and forth, which I've seen quite a few butterflies do. I'm not sure what the purpose is for it. In the second photo below you can see how the 'tails' aren't level and a bit more of the hindwing is showing.
I can safely say, I've taken some of my best photos of this species on this occasion. I've never seen such pristine looking females. Fabulous!
My final highlight of the month was seeing some Holly Blue caterpillars in the garden at home. The Ivy was doing quite well this year, with more fruiting bodies appearing than usual. Because of that, Bob decided to look for the caterpillars. What I hadn't realised was that he wasn't looking for the caterpillar itself, but evidence of it. Notice the little holes in the fruiting body below. The caterpillar will make a hole and suck out the juices from it. Once Bob spotted the holes, he then looked around for the caterpillar.
It was just a matter of time before he found one. It was already quite large and he reckoned it was already in its final fourth instar and likely to pupate soon. So, we were really lucky to have a few days where we were able to watch it. It moved around to different fruiting bodies and was being attended to by one or two ants virtually the whole time. It was fabulous to see this behaviour. Many of the blue butterfly species have this symbiotic relationship with ants. The caterpillar secretes a sugar-rich substance that the ant eats and in return the ant aggressively guards and protects the vulnerable caterpillar from predation, such as from parasitic wasps that will lay their eggs inside it.
I did continue to look for more caterpillars and I found one too, but a LOT smaller! It was at a different stage of development and much whiter and hairier. The next two photos were taken on the same day - one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
After a few days, the first bigger caterpillar disappeared to pupate, but we still were able to enjoy watching the smaller one. One week later, it had grown in size, though I didn't see it attended to by ants at all.
This month, Bob and I had several walks around Cradle Valley wondering if we'd see another Queen of Spain Fritillary, but no such luck. There was every possibility that a female had laid eggs in the area, based on the number of individuals we'd seen. But, whilst new sightings have started elsewhere in Sussex, there haven't been any more yet in our neck of the woods.
Most of the time we didn't see much to photograph, other than Clouded Yellows, but we've already taken a lot of photos of them this year, so rarely did we bother again! One day was a bit more interesting as we saw three Lesser Emperor dragonflies flying around the same area, which was fabulous. I've only seen them twice before, and I have just one very blurry poor 'record' shot. Since I only had a macro lens with me, I knew I wouldn't get anything amazing, however, it was fun trying to see if I could improve on my previous photo, which I did...but not by much!
The best of the distractions was seeing a lovely vibrant coloured Rhubarb and Custard moth.
