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.

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 2: St Abb's Head and Eyemouth

 

The beauty of St Abb's Head 

We spent a very happy day at St Abb's Head, just over the Scottish border, relaxing in the fine weather and enjoying the wildlife. There is a huge colony of Guillemots: you can see a few of them in the photo below. 

And here is a close-up, taken with my zoom at full stretch from the cliff top. 

There were Kittiwakes, too ...

I can't say that butterflies were in abundance but there were a few about despite a slight sea breeze. It's pretty hard to tell, of course, but I'm guessing the one below is a Wall Brown. 

David managed to see a Northern Brown Argus: we know because his sighting was confirmed by the reserve warden. While he was off in search of rarities, I sketched the rocks along the coast and kept an eye out for any butterflies like the one below that landed within range. I suspect it is a Common Blue, but it's hard to tell for sure ...

My cliff-side sketch ... (The painting I normally attempt is pretty abstract, and while I often do a quick sketch of a ruined abbey or castle on holiday, a rugged coastline was definitely a new challenge.)

I amy have missed the Northern Brown Argus, but while we were enjoying our picnic lunch, this lovely Painted lady touched down. That must have been about 28 June, and it remains my only Painted lady sighting of the season. Perhaps I have just not been in the right place at the right time, but I suspect there is more to it than that so I have added our sighting to Butterfly Conservation Painted Lady Map.

We returned to the National Trust for Scotland tearoom for Earl Grey and tiffin, and spotted two Yellowhammers and a Linnet as we made our way back to the cliff. 

We tore ourselves away eventually, made a brief visit to the Priory remains at Coldingham, where the DigVentures archaeology team were preparing for a talk prior to their excavation. 

No trip to this corner of the world is complete in my opinion without a detour to Eyemouth harbour with its resident seal. I believe there are several seals, but we tend to think we always see the same bubble-blowing one! 

You can see the entrance to the harbour and other views, including a smuggler's residence called Gunsgreen House, in the photos below.