ID a Butterfly
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ID a Butterfly

 
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Crazy Druid
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Joined: 25 Mar 2006
Posts: 188
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 7:29 pm    Post subject: ID a Butterfly Reply with quote

While on the Butterdean Cache we came across a butterfly and frog (well I think its a frog, could be a toad)

Can anybody tell me what kind of Butterfly it is?



And the frog/Toad

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Haggis Hunter
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Joined: 29 Aug 2005
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Location: The building site formally known as Edinburgh!

PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also came across a butterfly today, whilst walking the dogs. The markings where in the same place as yours, but the circles or tips where bright blue. It sat there as well and I wish I had my new camera with me, so that I could have taken a picture of it.
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Haggis Hunter
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mini HH has had a look at the toad, and she reckons that it is the type that disguises itself and hides in sand.

I'll be interested to know if she is even nearly right?
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Crazy Druid
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just called an old m8 of mine who is an herpetologist and was informed that it is a Common toad Bufo bufo

He said that they do excavate a shallow burrow (which they return to after foraging for prey) but in the UK its mostly in deciduous woodland, scrub,parks and fields

So she was very close Very Happy
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Crazy Druid
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Joined: 25 Mar 2006
Posts: 188
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got an ID on the Butterfly Very Happy

Peacock butterfly
Inachis io

The peacock butterfly has brownish-red wings, each with a single, large peacock-feather-like eyespot – used to scare predators. It rests with its wings closed, showing the almost black, well-camouflaged underside.

It is one of the commonest garden butterflies, found throughout lowland England and Wales. It is rarer in Scotland.
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HighlandNick
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's the Peacock Butterfly. Obvious really!!!
They are one of the first butterflies to be seen in spring and can be as large as 3 inches across. The eyes make it look much bigger still to deter predators. One study had these eyes blanked out with marker pen. The butterflies all got eaten!
Now the Physics bit. The iridescent wing markings work in the same way as a thin oil film on water. Interference effects cause the various colours as light is reflected from the ridges on the wings. In the photo above, these iridescent markings don't show up too well unfortunately.
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Haggis Hunter
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Crazy Druid wrote:
Just called an old m8 of mine who is an herpetologist and was informed that it is a Common toad Bufo bufo

He said that they do excavate a shallow burrow (which they return to after foraging for prey) but in the UK its mostly in deciduous woodland, scrub,parks and fields

So she was very close Very Happy

She did actually redeem herself immediately after I posted the above log, she said, it might actually be dirt it hides in, and that it uses it for hunting. So she was extremely close.
It's good to see that she is learning and remembering what she is taught at school.

The butterfly that I seen, is what you have said on the packet, the only difference was that it's spots where blue not white.
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