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A bright orange Araschnia levana bathing in the spring sun
The Map Butterfly (Araschnia levana) is one of those small spring butterflies that emerge near the end of april and throughout may. While the red and black colouring on the upperside of the wings slightly resemble that of the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) or Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album), it sports an underside unlike any other. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Araschnia levana, Butterflies, denmark, diphenism, invertebrate, Species, The Map
Aphodius distinctus without dung, just all clean and pretty
There you go, a dung-free Aphodius distinctus. I saw several a few weeks ago, wandering aimlessly around in the sands at the western coast of Jutland, pretty far from any fresh dung. Aphodius distinctus is a good flyer and spreads easily over far distances in search of fresh warm dung. It’s one of the most versatile dung beetles, able to feast on dung no matter the species that laid it, and can even make do with decomposing plant tissue.
Tags: Aphodius distinctus, Beetle, denmark, Dung beetle, invertebrate, Photography, Species
The Eurasian Dipper (Cinclus cinlus), hereafter dipper, is one of my favourite birds, and it is now back in Denmark for another winter sesaon. This splendid little fisher is just fascinating to watch while its doing its thing.
By first appearances it seems like any other bird of its size. What makes it special is its behaviour …. especially when feeding.
The Eurasian Dipper (C.cinlus) posing by the stream. I just love the white bib.
You’ll find your typical dipper fouraging in clear fast flowing streams, not too deep and with plenty of shallows reaches Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: birds, denmark, Dipper, Photography, Species
I was standing at the roadside, waiting for a friend, when I noticed the ants nurturing a batch of aphids on a stem. We had been walking through a large heathland and got separated on our way back to the car. I reasoned that my friend, being a curious biologist, probably found and stopped by something of interest, and so I had a little time to try and take a few shots of the ants activity. I have never really given ants a go before, so I had no idea which traits are typically used in identification. The idea was to take enough frames to identify them later at home. My first impression though was “Probably one of those red forest ants very clear from childhood memory (ouch).”
Formica sanguinea ants tending to lot of aphids
10 minutes later my friend showed up, I got up from the ground and we left for home. When I arrived home I showed the pictures to people who know stuff about ants. There wasn’t the slightest doubt as they proved my first impression wrong. It was the slavemaking Formica sanguinea. It’s Danish name translates literally to “Blood-red Raptor Ant”. Wow, awesome fierce name, what can it do?! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ants, denmark, invertebrate, Photography, Species
Every so often we enter a clouded yellow year. In this respect 2009 turned out to be wonderfully clouded, what delight! The Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) is a vibrant yellow and accomplished migratory butterfly. It is one of the most widespread butterflies in Europe and it is quite common in the northern parts of Africa through southern and eastern parts of Europe. Being a very able flier it can migrate thousands of kilometers in summertime, so it can be found in the more northern parts of Europe also, in scarce numbers. In good years it has been seen as far north as the northern Scotland and the Faroe Islands. Usually extremely rare in Denmark, some years not present at all, a small invasion hit us this summer, though it was nothing compared to tales of yonder where huge saffron yellow swarms blocked the sun from the sky or covered cliffs:
“While sitting on a cliff near Marazion in Cornwall, he perceived out at sea a yellow patch which, as it came nearer was seen to be a swarm og Clouded Yellows making for the land, flying low over the water and rising and falling over the crest of each wave, The cliffs were soon covered with them, and they stayed in the neighbourhood for several weeks.” - from Vere Temple
I was lucky myself to find a few fields of Lucerne with visiting Clouded Yellows. The individual above was photographed on a 70 ha field, energetically and determined cruising just above the flowers, dropping down here and there to lay a few eggs.
In their all year homes the Clouded Yellow can be found in all sorts of habitats, the most decisive factor seems to be Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Butterflies, denmark, photo thread, Species
Last season (2007) a couple of friends introduced me to the Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens). Since the mid 30’s the Keeled Skimmer (O. coerulescens) was thought to be extinct in Denmark. In 2006 a rather large population was found at Søby, Jutland. By the end of the season 2007 it was known from 4 locations. At the beginning of the species flight-period this year another location was added to the list. One of my goals this year was to find a new, hitherto unknown population.
Male of Keeled Skimmer (O. coerulescens)
While litterature states the Keeled Skimmer (O. coerulescens) to be found in all sorts of running waters, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: denmark, Dragonfly, photo thread, Species
Male of the Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)
Photo details: 50mm - f/4.0 @ 1/160
The gallery at http://www.nbell.dk/2009/ began as part of a competition between 2 friends and myself. We were having a race to see as many species of butterflies and dragonflies as possible during a single season. A by-product of that first season (2008) was a whole lot of photographs of a lot of different species. This spring we decided to try and put some use to all our photographs. We decided we could try and create a identification key for the danish species of butterflies and dragonflies. While the final goal is a polyclave identification key using our photographic material, theres a few big hurdles to pass first.
Note the presence of one crossvein only, in the cubital field of the hindwing. This is characteristic of Cordulia aenea. In Denmark, C. aenea could only be mistaken with species of Somatochlora, which instead have two crossveins.
We want the key to be a tool people can use when they come home with a lot of fritillary sp.’s and darter sp.’s on their Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Butterflies, denmark, Dragonfly