Day 6 of #30DaysWild: Monarch Butterfly Sketch

Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus), Western Peloponnese, Greece, 2010

It has been a wild and windy day here, with showers and a rainbow. I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to make a start on my drawing of the Monarch butterfly, following Emily Rose's brilliant guidelines which you can find here. This is my second attempt at one of her online workshops, and bit by bit I am getting the feel of the Faber-Castell pastel crayons she encourages her students to use. As you can see from the photo below, I still have a way to go, but never mind. 

Work in Progress: Monarch butterfly

I particularly wanted to try my hand at a Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) because, as you can see from photos 1 and 3, we saw a fairly similar butterfly, I think a Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus), near Pylos in the Peloponnese a little over ten years ago when we were celebrating our Silver Wedding. These Tigers are sometimes known as 'African Monarchs'. 

Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus)

Monarch butterflies are well known for their long-distance migration. Their wings, as you can see in my incomplete drawing, have black lines. They normally navigate by the sun, but when weather conditions are not so favourable, they resort to magnetism as you will discover if you read this article in National Geographic. Monarch larvae feed on Milkweed. 

Plain Tiger butterflies are possibly one of the earliest species to be depicted in art. An image of what appears to be one of these insects was found on a fresco in an Egyptian tomb in Luxor. I am not entirely sure whether the red and yellow flower in photos 1 and 3 is Blood Flower or Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), but I think it looks as though it may be.

My Photos of (Largely UK) Butterfly Species

I have decided to post a number of my butterfly photographs, taken mainly during the last decade. My challenge to myself was to see how many I could find in my photo library, and in particular, how many species I could represent.

I shall begin with Swallowtails or Papilionidae.

Sadly I have not seen an adult Swallowtail in the UK. I have seen a few larvae at Hickling Broad in Norfolk (I hope I may do a post on caterpillars at a later stage). My Swallowtail photograph was taken in the western Peloponnese in Greece in 2010. I suspect the butterfly in the photo is not quite the same as our UK Swallowtails, so I will not count it as my first UK species. But here it is...

Papilio machaon (Peloponnese, Greece, 2010)

Moving on, we come to ...

Skippers or Hesperiidae

I find Skippers can be difficult to identify: please let me know in the comments if you notice an error!

[1] Small Skipper - Thymelicus sylvestris

Thymelicus sylvestris, Flatford RSPB Garden, 2016

As above...

[2] Large Skipper - Ochlodes sylvanus

Ochlodes sylvanus, NT Wicken Fen Butterfly Walk, 2016

Next on my list...

Whites and Yellows, known as Pieridae...

[3] Brimstone - Gonepteryx rhamni

 Gonepteryx rhamni, NT Wicken Fen, 2017

Gonepteryx rhamni, NT Wicken Fen, 2017

[4] Clouded Yellow - Colias croceus

 Colias croceus, Slebech, Pembrokeshire, 2008

[5] Green-veined White - Pieris napi

Pieris napi, Flatford, Suffolk, 2017

[6] Large White - Pieris brassicae

I'm sure I do have photos somewhere, but all I can found for now are the eggs on my nasturtiums...

Eggs, Pieris brassicae, 2015

[7 Small White - Pieris rapae

Pieris rapae, South Wales, 2008

[8] Orange Tip - Anthocharis cardamines

Anthocharis cardamines, Cley-next-the-Sea, 2017

Browns, Fritillaries, Aristocrats, known as Nymphalidae ...

[9] Comma - Polygonia c-album

Polygonia c-album. You can see the white 'comma' on the back underwing

Polygonia c-album in Essex, 2016

[10]  Gatekeeper, aka Hedge Brown - Pyronia tithonus

Pyronia tithonus - NT Sutton Hoo, 2017

[11] Grayling - Hipparchia semele

Hipparchia semele

Hipparchia semele

Hipparchia semele, NT Dunwich Heath, 2015

[12] Meadow Brown - Maniola jurtina

Maniola jurtina, NT Dunwich Heath, 2016

Maniola jurtina, NT Wicken Fen, 2015

[13] Painted Lady - Vanessa cardui

Vanessa cardui, showing underwing (to some extent)

Vanessa cardui- wings fully open

[14] Peacock - Aglais io

Aglais io, home patch, 2014

[15] Purple Emperor (female - I have yet to see a male) - Apatura iris

Apatura iris - Gloucestershire, 2014

Apatura iris

[16] Red Admiral - Vanessa atalanta

Vanessa atalanta - Essex, 2016

Underwing of Vanessa atalanta

[17] Ringlet - Aphantopus hyperantus

Aphantopus hyperantus at NT Wicken Fen, 2014

[18] Small Heath - Coenonympha pamphilus

Coenonympha pamphilus - NT Sutton Hoo, 2013

[19] Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (I think...)

I believe this is the only Fritillary I have seen to date.

Boloria selene - Inner Hebrides, 2013

Boloria selene

[20] Small Tortoiseshell - Aglais urticae

Aglais urticae, South Wales, 2009

[21] Speckled Wood - Pararge aegeria

Pararge aegeria, NT Wicken Fen, 2016

I have yet to see a Duke of Burgundy, so I have no photo for Metalmarks, known as Riodinidae

Moving on, we come to Lycaenidae, with Coppers, Hairstreaks and Blues.

[22] Common Blue - Polyommatus icarus

Polyommatus icarus, South Wales, 2009

Polyommatus icarus, South Wales, 2009

Polyommatus icarus, South Wales, 2009

[23] Holly Blue - Celastrina argiolus

Celastrina argiolus, on a type of (prickle-free) holly, home patch, 2016

 [24] Green Hairstreak - Callophrys rubi

The only one I have ever seen...

Callophrys rubi, Suffolk, 2012

 [25] White-letter Hairstreak

Again, only the one...

 Satyrium w-album, Suffolk, July 2017

 Satyrium w-album - as above

[26] Small Copper - Lycaena phlaeas

Lycaena phlaeas, RSPB Minsmere, 2017

Lycaena phlaeas

* * *

I suspect it is unlikely that I will add any more new species to this 2007 - 2017 list as autumn is approaching. However, I am pleasantly surprised at my count to date. All the photographs in this post were taken (by me) in the last ten years. We moved from Wales to Suffolk six years ago, and at that time I began to harbour a desire, as yet unfulfilled, to see a Swallowtail in the wild in the UK. Since our move, it would be true to say that I have kept an eye out for butterflies, though often on a casual basis. I feel sure I have a photograph of an adult Large White, but so far it eludes me. I will add it in if I find it or see one of these butterflies on the wing.

I am a butterfly-lover but very much a novice when it comes to identification and many other aspects of the butterfly world. If you see a mistake in this post, it would be much appreciated if you would drop a line in the Comments below. My next paragraph has been pasted from a previous post, but in case you missed it...

I have been paying particular attention to butterflies this year as a result of reading two fascinating books...

• In Pursuit of Butterflies: a Fifty Year Affair by Matthew Oates
• The Butterfly Isles: a Summer in Search of our Emperors and Admirals by Patrick Barkham

There is a good list of British butterflies here (which includes a few migrants). 

The only other butterflies in my personal photo library are the two you see below, photographed in the Peloponnese along with the Swallowtail at the top of my post. 

I *believe* this next butterfly is a Plain Tiger or African Monarch (Danaus chrysippus). There is a lovely one here in among the photos of lizards.

Danaus chrysippus, 2010 - Greece

Danaus chrysippus - 2010, Greece

The other butterfly seen in Greece in the Methoni area of the Peloponnese appears below. I believe it may be a Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus, but I'm not sure which one).

 

I hope at some point to post a list of the butterfly larvae (and moths, or perhaps initially the day-flying ones) I have photographed in the UK between 2007 and 2017. But to end with, here is a see-at-a-glance list of the butterflies mentioned in this post.

[1]   Small Skipper

[2]   Large Skipper

[3]   Brimstone

[4]   Clouded Yellow

[5]   Green-veined White

[6]   Large White

[7]   Small White

[8]   Orange Tip

[9]   Comma

[10] Gatekeeper

[11] Grayling

[12] Meadow (or Hedge) Brown

[13] Painted Lady

[14] Peacock

[15] Purple Emperor (delighted to see this news report...)

[16] Red Admiral

[17] Ringlet

[18] Small Heath

[19] Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

[20] Small Tortoiseshell

[21] Speckled Wood

[22] Common Blue

[23] Holly Blue

[24] Green Hairstreak

[25] White-letter Hairstreak

[26] Small Copper

Eye-catching Insects (2): Spilostethus pandurus ~ a Milkweed Bug

Seen at Messene in the Kalamata area of Greece

I posted the above photo on our return from Pylos in the Peloponnese last autumn, having failed in my attempts at identification. The creature was seriously 'on the move' so it was a case of click or miss, hence the fuzzy photo.

The identification continued to puzzle me until earlier this week Shelly from MOBugs (Missouri, USA) came to my rescue. A friend of hers was able to tell me that the creature is the nymph of a Seed Bug, the Spilostethus pandurus. It is more commonly known as the Milkweed Bug and belongs to the order of Hemiptera, sub-order of Heteroptera - and is from the family of Lygaeidae.

You can read about the hemimetabolic life cycle here. It certainly had not occurred to me that I was watching a nymph. There is a much better photograph by Normand Mlaure (you may have to scroll down), and there is another here, with only one ring i.e. an 0 rather than a figure of 8, on its back. There is further example here, with a cluster two photos down (by John Cravatta) of the not dissimilar Oxycarenus lavaterae.

For another cluster of these creatures (this time in Spain and taken by fturmog), take a look here. They have also been seen in the Algarve in Portugal.

 *

We saw some other colourful creatures in Greece. You may remember these two from my previous Bug post . . .

Postscript: 23 Feb 2011: do take a look at Seabrooke's Milkweed Bugs here.