I was able to visit Liesjärvi not only in summer 2017, but also during the last week of May. Spring was very cold and the ice cover of the lake only disappeared after May 15! This will have affected the spring butterfly and dragonfly observations. Also, I did some bird watching (67 species) and I measured the lake water temperature/EC/pH profile.
SOME INTERESTING SPRING OBSERVATIONS:
- Two ‘new’ butterfly species to the area were observed: Kangasperhonen (Callophrys rubi) and ,Paatsamasinisiipi ( Celastrina argiolus).
- Other species were Herukkaperhonen (Nymphalis c-album), Sitruunaperhonen (Gonepteryx rhamni), Neitoperhonen (Nymphalis io), Suruvaippa (Nymphalis antiopa), and Lanttuperhonen (Pieris napi)
- I did not observe any Auroraperhonen (Anthocharis cardamines), and also no dragonfly species ‘yet’.
SUMMER OBSERVATIONS:
In July, I was not very lucky with the wheather. However, I managed to go on expeditions to observe butterflies and dragonflies. In case of the dragonfly exuvia research, my goal was to visit all possible lakes with serious peatbog vegetation.
DRAGONFLIES
- My peatbog expeditions resulted in many recoveries of exuvia of Aeshna subarctica and sightnings of the butterfly Boloria aquilonaris.
- Also, I found more lakes with Leucorrhina caudalis.
BUTTERFLIES
- This summer was not a very rich in butterfly species. Two butterfly species need special mentioning:
- During the previous summer (i.e. 2016), I observed the highest number of Keisarinvitta (A. paphia) so far, but this year I did not observe any specimen. The species seemed to be totaly absent in 2017.
- Also Herukkaperhonen (N. c-album) was very rare in the summer of 2017. In general, you can see dozens of second generation individuals, but in 2017 I observed only one single individual in July.