HOME
YEAR LIST,
2010
For previous years' lists and commentaries, often incomplete, click: 2009; 2008; 2007; 2006; 2005; 2004; 2003; 2002; 2001. I seem to have
lost the file for 2000.
Two of my friends also keep online year-lists. Tim Cowles,
living in the Monts du Lyonnais, publishes his list HERE
and Matthew Rowlings, who lives not far from me in Vevey, Switzerland,
has his HERE.
SCROLL DOWN for the 2010 CHECKLIST or use the menu below to jump to the
COMMENTARY for each month.
CHECKLIST
FOR THE YEAR 2010
(All place names refer to localities near Villars-sur-Ollon,
Switzerland, unless otherwise specified or obvious)
1 Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) - 27th February - Valais
2 Small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - 1st March - Huémoz
Commentary
(Links in the
commentary are to pictures of the particular butterflies referred to)
January
16th: I went hairstreak egg hunting in the Rhône Valley on what turned out to be a bitterly cold day. This shows how cold it was in the woods! But the day was successful. I found about half a dozen brown hairstreak eggs at one site, and a single egg at another (this is a closer view of that egg), where I hadn't found them before. Some of them were tightly jammed into forks in the branches and all were at least near forks. There were also plenty of purple hairstreak eggs to be seen on low-growing sprigs of oak. Here are two together on the same twig, and here another two on a different twig. Here is another purple hairstreak egg. While looking for brown hairstreak eggs I found this egg, which I have not yet identified. These strange objects have nothing to do with butterflies, and I haven't identified them either!
17th:
Grim weather - wet, cold, foggy. I took a walk to my local woods to see
if I could find white-letter hairstreak eggs. When I got there I
realised I couldn't identify wych elm in winter, with thick snow on the
ground, and so no hope of finding leaves. Nevertheless, walking home I
did check some oak trees and found this purple hairstreak egg (and here). It is my first evidence of purple hairstreak in the region (I moved here in November 2008), so was very pleasing.
23rd: A warm, sunny day in the Rhône Valley, but no butterflies were flying even in the hot spots. I had another look for purple hairstreak eggs and again found plenty. I didn't notice it at the time, but there are two eggs on the sprig in the background in this photo. Here and here are others, and here is one laid, unusually, away from the bud.
24th: More purple hairstreak egg-hunting, this time in the oaks around Huémoz. I found plenty of eggs, on many different trees in the same region where I found one on 17th. In addition to healthy eggs I found two that had been parasitised (and here). They were on different trees. I am told that the parasite is most likely to be a tiny wasp of the genus Trichogramma.
The wasp eggs are laid through the micropyle (the pore in the central
depression of the egg) and the large hole in the side of the eggs is
the exit passage of the wasp.
February
13th: We have had almost unbroken cold recently, and it was cold
again today. But as it was the first day of my half-term I went down to
the Rhône Valley to look for eggs. This is a view along the valley - sunny, but through a freezing haze. The temperature never got above zero in the shade, as this photo, taken at about 1.00pm shows. But the good light meant it was easy to find eggs. Purple hairstreak eggs were very easy to find. Here is another.
I have now checked oak trees over a wide area and almost all have
eggs in them. The species really must be abundant in these parts! Here
is an egg I found dangling from attaching threads, which I think has been parasitised. I collected it but unfortunately then lost it trying to get a closer look! Brown hairstreak eggs were much more local but I did find them at two separate sites. Here are two laid very close together. In addition, I found this smooth egg on blackthorn while I was looking for brown hairstreaks. I don't know what it is, though it is likely to be a moth. Here is a (bad) photo showing its slightly greenish colour.
16th:
My birthday began gloriously sunny and I decided to walk down to Ollon
and look for early small tortoiseshells in the vineyards and other
hotspots. Unfortunately, cloud came over by midday and there was no
chance of anything flying. But the day remained quite mild and the
prospect is for less bitter cold than in recent weeks. In the woods
above the vineyards I checked the few appropriate oaks that were also
accessible and rapidly found that purple hairstreak flies there too. Here
is an egg. Lower down, however, the oaks seemed to be of a different
species, with larger, persistent leaves and smaller buds. Many were
accessible, by the quiet road running along their southern edge, but I
found no eggs there.
27th: Bright and sunny morning
in the Rhône Valley, but not warm. A chilly easterly breeze kept even
the usual hotspots cool. There were other signs it was still winter -
notably, a lack of speedwell flowers, or any other nectar plants
for early butterflies. The only prominent flowers were occasional patches of crocuses.
It was thus little surprise that no small tortoiseshells or Queens of
Spain were flying - my target species. I was very lucky, however, to
see this single red admiral, struggling to stay warm in adverse conditions. By midday clouds had come over and it was too cold to expect anything else. Brown hairstreak and purple hairstreak eggs were still easy to find.
March
1st: Bright and sunny all morning, though there was a chilly wind. At lunchtime, four small tortoiseshells were sparring, chasing and sunning in Huémoz.
2nd-7th:
Return of cold weather. I have spent the last few days in Berlin, where
temperatures have been hovering around zero and where it snowed today
(7th).
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December