💾 Archived View for magda.cities.yesterweb.org › oblog › 2024-august-01.gmi captured on 2024-08-18 at 17:25:09. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Not a field trip day but rather a random observation I've made whilst checking the stinging nettles in my yard, which already managed to attract A. levana and V. atalanta two years prior and, sadly, offered caterpillars that all ended up being parasitized.
+-------------------------+---------------------------------+-------------+ | Species | Location | Status | +-------------------------+---------------------------------|-------------+ | Vanessa atalanta | Yard | Caterpillar | +-------------------------+---------------------------------+-------------+
While counting caterpillars on stinging nettles is quite the task, five actively-used leaf nests and three abandoned ones were counted, whith more likely hiding in-between this bush. I managed to take a better look at two leaf nests and carefully opened them to find one V. atalanta in each of them, concluding that the rest may host red admirals as well due to frequent observations of adults since June.
Yet back in 2022 I wasn't expecting A. levana in the slightest, as no adult was registered. For now it remains to be seen whether V. atalanta is the only species appreciating my stinging nettles or it's sharing it with A. levana again.
Some other observations were made by my mother:
+-------------------------+---------------------------------+-------+ | Species | Location | Status| +-------------------------+---------------------------------|-------+ | Issoria lathonia | Mixed Field | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|-------| | Polyommatus icarus | Mixed Field | Adult | |-------------------------|–--------------------------------|-------| | Vanessa atalanta | Yard | Adult | +-------------------------+---------------------------------+-------+
As she struggles (and actually doesn't even bother) with blues, I based her only observation of this blue on my own records and her very vague description. Since this area is much lower in term of species diversity than the main zone, only P. icarus so far has been recorded since 2022.