Dull and showery, with a few brief sunny spells - then cleared up for the evening, but with a brisk W wind.
Tony Baines is looking brilliantly at the distribution of Iris in the Odiham area, N Hants. It is clearly well established in that landscape, occurring in colonies which may well be loosely connected. But it is not a true woodland butterfly here, let alone a forest one; rather it is a creature of sallow scrub in diverse situations. These include the Odiham by-pass, a 2 mile long construction ca 30 years old, which is lined with sallows. Turn uphill into Odiham from the roundabout at the by-pass's E end, and you will find Iris males assembling in a sheltered high point (oak and ornamentals) at the driveway entrance of a big house. And there's a lovely assembly point along the Basingstoke Canal, where we saw 3 males in lousy weather. The main breeding ground must be abundant sallows along the edge of a lake - we saw 2 males and 1 female there in 15 sunny mins. And it must along be breeding along the canal. The dense ancient woodland of Odiham Common is rather an irrelevance, incredibly, despite its size. Iris continuously reinvents itself...
Matthew
Monday, July 13, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Mea Culpa
Apologies to bloggers and webbers alike - I spent the weekend mending my roof and watching the cricket, so I haven't been able to keep up with cross-posting from the blog to the web and vice-versa. It is all up there, just in the wrong order, so read down until you're safely into the beginning of last week before you're sure you've seen everything.
It will be re-organised, only right now something else calls - the dreaded WORK!
BTW - great posting, everyone. I'd like to eventually organise things so that the blog is live and current, and the web a repository of information for research and winter browsing - a kind of on-line "Notes and Views.." We're just about there.
It will be re-organised, only right now something else calls - the dreaded WORK!
BTW - great posting, everyone. I'd like to eventually organise things so that the blog is live and current, and the web a repository of information for research and winter browsing - a kind of on-line "Notes and Views.." We're just about there.
SAVERNAKE BECKONS
july 12: Looks like the 09 Ashes series is taking over from where the 05 series left off. Most of the drama was listened to in Savernake Forest, N Wilts. This is an odd site for Iris, as they fly round the crowns of gigantic beech trees, in the 80' range, and look tiny.
Today I counted 17 apparent individual males along the 1/4 mile long straight ride leading up to The Column (a piece of C18th bollox). It might have been as many as 20 males. This is by far the most I've seen here. It included 3 groups of 3 battling males, and 4 lots of 2. Some looked old and worn, one had almost lost his hind wings, but some were fresh-looking. No sign of Herself though.
Matthew.
Today I counted 17 apparent individual males along the 1/4 mile long straight ride leading up to The Column (a piece of C18th bollox). It might have been as many as 20 males. This is by far the most I've seen here. It included 3 groups of 3 battling males, and 4 lots of 2. Some looked old and worn, one had almost lost his hind wings, but some were fresh-looking. No sign of Herself though.
Matthew.
FERMYN AU REVOIR
Frenetic day trying to finish 2 different TV pieces, with 2 film crews, mercifully both Beeb. We managed it, thanks to some decent weather and some cooperative but ageing males. All the males seen close up today were faded, even battered - apart from one which looked pristine and may have emerged this morning. Good to see them savouring the delights of Vietnamese shrimp paste and pickled mud fish. My car attracted one old male - and rightly so as it stinks, having had its bodily functions modified for the season, to attract iris. My first male was seen at 7.40, when the temp was only 13C, and my last at 6pm.
Females are now relatively prominent in Northants, though there might be one or two still to hatch. We saw one huge recently emerged female. Another was seen rejecting a male in the classic tumbling down flight. Neil Hulme saw one down on the ride - something I virtually never see.
The oak sap run was favoured again, on and off from 9am to 5pm, with a max of 3 at a time. They keep getting booted off by hornets - something which their more aggressive counterparts in W Sussex would not tolerate.
Tithonus at last appears in Northants, 2 fresh males; and a black admiral, a full nigrina. There are virtually no Purple Hairstreak here this year; I stayed on for the evening flight and struggled to see 2. Yet there has been no outbreak of Tortrix viridana, which has defoliated oaks massively in the western Weald.
The forecast for the weekend is Vile: be warned, Iris and other canopy butterflies can be decimated by strong winds, which are forecast. Last year's good emergence was severely depleted by a gale on the weekend of the 5th-6th. It looks as tho something similar is about to happen - tho it may save an insipid England from defeat in the 1st test...
Matthew
Females are now relatively prominent in Northants, though there might be one or two still to hatch. We saw one huge recently emerged female. Another was seen rejecting a male in the classic tumbling down flight. Neil Hulme saw one down on the ride - something I virtually never see.
The oak sap run was favoured again, on and off from 9am to 5pm, with a max of 3 at a time. They keep getting booted off by hornets - something which their more aggressive counterparts in W Sussex would not tolerate.
Tithonus at last appears in Northants, 2 fresh males; and a black admiral, a full nigrina. There are virtually no Purple Hairstreak here this year; I stayed on for the evening flight and struggled to see 2. Yet there has been no outbreak of Tortrix viridana, which has defoliated oaks massively in the western Weald.
The forecast for the weekend is Vile: be warned, Iris and other canopy butterflies can be decimated by strong winds, which are forecast. Last year's good emergence was severely depleted by a gale on the weekend of the 5th-6th. It looks as tho something similar is about to happen - tho it may save an insipid England from defeat in the 1st test...
Matthew
BBC to breakfast
Frenetic day trying to finish 2 different TV pieces, with 2 film crews, mercifully both Beeb. We managed it, thanks to some decent weather and some cooperative but ageing males. All the males seen close up today were faded, even battered - apart from one which looked pristine and may have emerged this morning. Good to see them savouring the delights of Vietnamese shrimp paste and pickled mud fish. My car attracted one old male - and rightly so as it stinks, having had its bodily functions modified for the season, to attract iris. My first male was seen at 7.40, when the temp was only 13C, and my last at 6pm.
Females are now relatively prominent in Northants, though there might be one or two still to hatch. We saw one huge recently emerged female. Another was seen rejecting a male in the classic tumbling down flight. Neil Hulme saw one down on the ride - something I virtually never see.
The oak sap run was favoured again, on and off from 9am to 5pm, with a max of 3 at a time. They keep getting booted off by hornets - something which their more aggressive counterparts in W Sussex would not tolerate.
Tithonus at last appears in Northants, 2 fresh males; and a black admiral, a full nigrina. There are virtually no Purple Hairstreak here this year; I stayed on for the evening flight and struggled to see 2. Yet there has been no outbreak of Tortrix viridana, which has defoliated oaks massively in the western Weald.
The forecast for the weekend is Vile: be warned, Iris and other canopy butterflies can be decimated by strong winds, which are forecast. Last year's good emergence was severely depleted by a gale on the weekend of the 5th-6th. It looks as tho something similar is about to happen - tho it may save an insipid England from defeat in the 1st test...
Matthew
Females are now relatively prominent in Northants, though there might be one or two still to hatch. We saw one huge recently emerged female. Another was seen rejecting a male in the classic tumbling down flight. Neil Hulme saw one down on the ride - something I virtually never see.
The oak sap run was favoured again, on and off from 9am to 5pm, with a max of 3 at a time. They keep getting booted off by hornets - something which their more aggressive counterparts in W Sussex would not tolerate.
Tithonus at last appears in Northants, 2 fresh males; and a black admiral, a full nigrina. There are virtually no Purple Hairstreak here this year; I stayed on for the evening flight and struggled to see 2. Yet there has been no outbreak of Tortrix viridana, which has defoliated oaks massively in the western Weald.
The forecast for the weekend is Vile: be warned, Iris and other canopy butterflies can be decimated by strong winds, which are forecast. Last year's good emergence was severely depleted by a gale on the weekend of the 5th-6th. It looks as tho something similar is about to happen - tho it may save an insipid England from defeat in the 1st test...
Matthew
FROM DOUG GODDARD - JULY 10
I visited another iris site in Northants toady, Bucknell Wood near Silverstone. Four individuals were seen, including this egglaying female. She settled on a small sallow, 11.15 a.m., basked momentarily, before striking a couple of sallow leaves to lay eggs.
Woops - July 6th!
I met up with Matthew Oates for the first time this season in a secluded part of Fermyn. We had nine iris in less than ideal conditions. The most interesting piece of behaviour noted was this male feeding from the frame of a deer tower.
Doug Goddard
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