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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 21, 2011 8:46:50 GMT -8
Hi Olivier ! Saturday, Sunday and yesterday, weather was too bad : only some Maniola jurtina in the garden ! Best weather for slugs ! Three days ago, I changed the bait in the trap : schrimps instead of cheese. It seems working better. Hard to say, regarding the weather conditions : to-day was more sunny than former days.
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 21, 2011 14:18:36 GMT -8
It informs me that at this time Apatura iris and Apatura ilia are unusually abundant in eastern France and particularly in the region of the River Meuse, where there were up to 20 samples of ilia on a single cow dung! !
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Post by thanos on Jun 21, 2011 20:14:03 GMT -8
Wow..Jean-Marc,in a few days I'm leaving to the paradise of L.populi and A.iris..! I hope the numbers will be great also there - I need to catch some L.populi females.. ! The weather will be good according to forecast all this week! Thanos
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 22, 2011 6:10:57 GMT -8
Dear Thanos, I have no need to drive 2 or 3 hours to see Apatura ilia : this sample was just on the house door when I went out to have a coffee in the sun ! Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 22, 2011 6:12:23 GMT -8
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Post by thanos on Jun 22, 2011 13:11:02 GMT -8
Dear Jean-Marc,you are lucky to have these exceptional butterflies even in the garden of your house ! As I live in the center of a town,I have no chance for something like this,and always I have to drive - a lot for reaching especially the best spots. Beautiful pictures again - these hot noon hours are the best for Apatura !
Thanos
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 26, 2011 13:22:26 GMT -8
Jeez Jean-Marc, what kind of fish was that? Those teeth look evil! Cidinha sent me a new picture where you can see the same fish just out of the water. Nice teeth! Attachments:
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Post by nomihoudai on Jun 26, 2011 14:19:44 GMT -8
My thread has turned into a fish thread... but I am fine with it, in my teens I was thinking about studying Ichthyology. Anyway, today I had a story of the "When you don't expect it" kind. I was tired and fed up with studying and the sun was shinning the first time since two weeks here so I headed for a place where I usually collect in May and just wanted to do a little bit of collecting, solely for the purpose of being outside. It did not matter if I catch anything or what I would catch. To my pleasure there was a strong population of Gonepteryx rhamni and I could net 16 specimen, males and females. Besides that I didn't get much that would be exciting except for maybe one Melanargia galathea in a field where I sometimes can see Erebia meolans in May. I was heading back to my car and very close to it when I saw something flying above it, I was asking myself if it was a bird ?? No! It was a butterfly as huge as I had never seen it before in Europe ( I am glad the Idea in Java did not spoil my perception on how large a specimen is ). It flow towards me on the path buth too high when it crossed me, still it was very low so that it would be possible for me to catch it so I walked after it. After 200m it went to the left and sat down on a leaf in about 2m height where I could get it, only problem were neetles and blackberry all around the tree but I said that this would not save it. I made a few steps in the blackberry when the butterfly made a small move to leave the leaf, I then swang my net with as much power as I could and moved it down to the ground together with some branches of the tree and... the butterfly! I took it out and it was an Apatura iris female, the first I have ever seen in my life. It was not totally A1 but who cares with such a great first catch ? It is huge and close to 75 mm wingspan, the max size I saw indicated in my books. Just after I packed everything in my car a Favonius quercus female came along, another sp. new to me, was a great day ;D
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Post by saturniidave on Jun 26, 2011 16:13:43 GMT -8
Nice story Claude, it is great when things like that happen unexpectedly! If that were me I would have ended up in the nettles and brambles with a torn net and no butterfly! Jean-Marc, that IS an impressive set of teeth on that fish!!! Handle with care I think!
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 27, 2011 1:00:32 GMT -8
This reminds me of my first contact with Apatura iris. It was several years ago in the Forest of Châtillon (in Burgundy) where I had been reported about the presence of this butterfly. For hours I searched in vain A. iris: no one. Very frustrated, I decided to leave and, on arriving at my car, two A. iris male turned around. One did not hesitate to enter the vehicle through the open window! Very pleasing but a bit problematic: given that these butterflies adore the smell of rot, this meant that my car was really a mess! Impossible to capture them in or around the vehicle. I followed them for 200 or 300 m to discover that several males were sunning themselves on the south wall of the ranger's house ! See the map ! By the way, along this path (with a low turistical frequentation), it's one of the best spot for Lopinga achine, butterfly which becomes rare in France. Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 27, 2011 1:06:00 GMT -8
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 27, 2011 1:07:38 GMT -8
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 27, 2011 1:15:40 GMT -8
Here is an Euphydryas maturna picture : sorry, the photo is overexposed ! To day, I'm back in the Forêt de Dreux and the meteo forecast is 37°C without a single cloud. I made some camembert cheese bait to check about A. iris & A. ilia. Hoping I could take some good pictures ... Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 27, 2011 4:31:34 GMT -8
Around noon, I saw two Apatura ilia (no iris ). The first was flying around the bait but without going on. The second was flying quickly along the path. As a very nice guy, he stopped on an oak leave to let me take pictures ! I'll go back on the path this afternoon to check the baits (camembert = french cheese) if not taken away by foxes ... Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 27, 2011 4:38:35 GMT -8
This oak (above the smaller tree, just before the south-west property limit) is an Apatura ilia resting point. This morning, I hang a new time the trap. Wait and see ... Both trap and net are made in USA : BioQuip products : nothing so strong and so cheap in Europe !! Attachments:
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