#large tortoishell

[wc-wild-rewrite]

The Clans and Pelts

This will be a worldbuilding post detailing the various pelt colors and markings, and how common they are in each clan. White markings show up in every clan, so i'm not counting those.

Lets get started rather simply, with tabby types;

Mackerel

The regular straight-lined tabby, most commonly found in Thunderclan and Shadowclan.

Classic

The swirl tabbies, almost only found in Riverclan. It is rare to have other clans with classic tabby markings. If a riverclan cat is a tabby, their a classic tabby. Outside-born cars are the only exception.

Broken Mackerel

A mackerel tabby with broken up stripes. The norm in Shadowclan tabbies, uncommon elsewhere

Spotted

Regular spots, not leopard spots. Most common in Riverclan, but generally uncommon across the board. More-so a loner or kittypet trait than anything.

Marbled, Braided, Broken Braided, and Rosetted

Marbled tabbies are broken classic tabbies, Braided and Broken Braided are mackerels, and Rosetted are a spotted variety. All bengal genetics, meaning generally uncommon across the clans. Except for rosetted, which is a common Riverclan marking when they arent classic.

Ticked

Comes in classic or mackerel ticked, they only have striping on their legs, tails, and faces. Common in Windclan, actively bred for, even.

Now, for the pelt colors

Brown

Pure brown, as in a tabbyless brown, is common in Windclan. Also found in Riverclan, particularly in toms.

Brown tabbys are very common in Shadowclan, particularly in toms. Brown tabbies are also found in Thunderclan, but they don't have brown cats very often across the board

Windclan brown tends to be a lighter shade, Riverclan brown is more red, Shadowclan brown is more black or grey-tinted, and Thunderclan brown leans on the darker but colorful side.

Black

Thunderclan and Shadowclan love black cats, for both practicality and appeareance. More common in Shadowclan, though.

Riverclan and Windclan however, do not like black cats, so their not very common. This is very unfortunate for Crowfeather's family. When Windclan does have it, though, it tends to be more very-very-dark-grey and not fully black.

Grey

Lighter greys are found in Riverclan and Windclan, stone-gray particularly in Riverclan.

Mid to dark greys are found in Thunderclan, but very dark greys are found most commonly in Shadowclan.

White

Pure white is not preferred in any clan, for practicality or appearance. Its primarily considered a kittypet trait, to be completely white-furred. However, Windclan minds the least, as they like high white on cats. They still prefer more bicolor than white, though.

Not common in any other clan

Tortoishell

The most common pattern for Shadowclan mollys. This is likely due to the large loner and rogue-born population within the clan. In Shadowclan, non-white torties are preferred over calicos or torties with white

Thunderclan prefers calicos, Windclan doesnt like either, and Riverclan usually gets dilute torties (grey and cream)

Red

Despite the prevalence of torties in Shadowclan, red is actually a fairly uncommon color across the clans. However, lighter oranges can ocassionally pop up in Windclan, and darker reds can be found in the nonclan-born of Shadowclan. Still typically considered a kittypet trait.

Cream

The dilute of Red, but far more common. Mostly found in Windclan and Riverclan.

I'm going to ignore the genetic pelt colors of Lilac, Fawn, and Taupe as their basically the same thing as cream. To me, at least.

Blue

Yes, im counting this seperately from Grey. Of course, most common in Riverclan, but not really found anywhere else.

Colorpoints

As this is a breed-specific pelt, their only found in kittypets and those with non-clan heritage. Oddly enough, common in Windclan, depsite their claims of being pure bred. Flamepoint is the word for a red colorpoint, like Gorseflame.

[samirafee]

#NYMPHALIS POLYCHLOROS - LARGE TORTOISESHELL @samirafee

[nightly-ruse]

I am so normal about @iamfabiloz blossomdove fic. The most normal and not non normal about it at all.

Haha i am not normal about them I lied. They are beautiful and wonderful and my favorite and I love them so much. I am like about to leave so I can’t stick around long but gosh I adore them very much.

(ID- Blossomfall is a red tortoishell cat with white petal like flecks all across her pelt. She is sitting facing Dovewing on a tree branch, her eyes round and a pinky amber color with pink sparkles and a heart. She has a shocked but affectionate expression. Dovewing is a pale warm gray cat with a fluffy tail and large feathery ears. She has a darker fringe and round blue-green eyes, a heart nose, and one paw out towards Blossomfall. She has a loving expression. Her tail is curled up while Blossom’s is down and a bright sunset is behind them with the sun between them, leaves over head, and the tree limb under them with the real tree on the left. End ID)

[wc-extensive-naming]

Appleblossom and Pikesong

Appleblossom

A small, pretty cream-and-gray tortoishell cat with white speckling and green eyes. They are known to be the only kit of their litter, and one that helps the medicine cat with finding herbs in their spare time.

Pikesong

A large, sleek-furred sandy brown cat with white toes and hazel eyes. They are well known for their kind, soothing voice, and their careful nature towards kits and apprentices.

[fan-clan-fun]

Heres one of my Clans, ShoreClan! I put definitions to the roles that are non-warrior cat standard, as the rest are pretty much the same. I'd send more details for them but I didnt wanna bother you to much!

Lovely! Im excited to see what you have!

-Leader -

CoyoteStar - wirey pale brown tabby tom with yellow eyes

-Deputy -

SnapMaw - Brown and white tabby she cat with a white under belly and blue eyes.

I love this name, not traditional, but dang if it doesnt sound awesome.

-ShoreSpeaker -

*Highly respected figures. There is only one ShoreSpeaker at a time unless there is a Apprentice they have taken on. They speak to the spirits of the ocean and foretell prophecy sent by the ancient ones. Instead of leaders appointing apprentices, they do. Although they do not name warriors.*

Oh this is cool! It’s always interesting to see how the spiritual rank takes from its environment, and I like that they appoint apprentices too, although it does make me wonder how much info they get prophecy on each cat and their path. Does this clan believe in set destiny?

IceMask - ancient black she cat with a white face and and cold blue eyes.

-Healer -

*A Medicine Cat with a different name. They handle all injuries and illnesses in the clan. There are usually more than one healer, but in recent years with the corruption in the ocean, many of the healers have died from sickness.*

This is pretty cool too, and it does make mention of what I assume to be one of the major conflicts in the story what with the  corruption in the ocean. I would love to hear more!

SpringLeaf - Pale brown and white tom

-*-*-WaveRiders -*-*-

*These cats are warriors that handle all off land business. They are excellent swimmers with a exceptional love for the ocean; over the generations "pure" Wave cats have grown webbed feet, this is a characteristic purely known to WaveRiders.*

Okay, its kind of cool to have a group of cats which are specifically known as the swimmers and such of the clan, although I imagine all the cats need to at least know how to swim. 

- StormBird - black tom with yellow eyes

- ChillWater - silvery blue tabby she cat with blue eyes

- SeaSnow - white she cat with green eyes

- TidePool - brown tabby tom with yellow eyes

- CoralHeart - tortoishell she cat with blue eyes

-*-*-SandTrotters -*-*-

*A average warrior that does all land duties. They are usually a broad and muscular cat with a brown or sandy pelt.*

- ThunderJaw - Large gray and white she cat with yellow eyes

- GlintHawk - silvery tom with grey eyes

- ShellSpeckle - dappled grey tom with green eyes

- BrineStripe - tawny she cat with brown eyes

- SilverSplash - silvery and black tom.

I do find it amusing that only one of the current sand trotters is brown like the expectation, but they all seem cool.

*-Queens-*

LightningStrike - black she cat with a white flash down her face, kits: Finkit and WindKit.

DriftWood - Brown and white tabby she cat, kits: CrayKit, LongKit, and Lobsterkit

-Apprentices -

*Apprentices have no set mentor, but instead are trained by both SandTrotter and WaverRider cats to see which job suits them best. Healer and ShoreSpeaker apprentices are chosen at birth.*

Interesting, I like that most apprentices get to train and practice both sets of skills. I am curious about why the special apprentices are chosen at birth, and how. Is the Shorespeaker given signs about which kits to choose?

- PebblePaw - speckled grey she cat with blue eyes

- SandPaw - sandy brown tabby she cat with mossy green eyes.

-Elders -

- SharkScale - scares grey tom with a white belly and grey eyes.

- SaltFreckle - black she cat with white speckles.

- LightEyes - blind she cat with a grey fur.

Decided to put this at the end because I kept seeing more and more names I liked. I really like a lot of your names, they just have a really good sound and rhythm to them, and they seem to all fit really well together, even if they don’t have a discernible ruleset or pattern. They are just really nice lyrical names.

Anyway, thanks so much for sharing! Can’t wait to see more.

[stargleam-star]

Warriors Rewrite Pt 0: Allegiances

So! Some of you may know Ive started rereading the first arc of warriors. As a result, I've been inspired to come up with my own version of a rewrite. I'm gonna make about 7+ posts of notes about things I'd change throughout the entirety of The Prophecies Begin.

To start off, let's talk about our cast

Leader: Bluestar (Apprentice: Sandpaw)

Blue-gray she-cat with a darker face, tail, and legs, and blue eyes. Basically she's a blue Burmese

She teaches Sandpaw instead of Firepaw because then it'd make sense when Graypaw says Bluestar only trains the deputy's kits. Not to mention I think Bluestar would be good at taming Sandpaw's attitude

Like in canon she gave up her kits. The way it happened was a bit different though. To look more convincing, Bluefur had Oakheart scratch her shoulder to make it look like she'd gone to fight the fox for her kits. Bringing home one of her kits half frozen made her story more believable

Deputy: Redtail (Apprentice: Dustpaw)

Small, mostly black tortoishell tom with a plumy dark ginger tail and green eyes

He lives! Or at least longer than he's supposed to. Probably til up about the time Lionheart dies in canon

He's mates with Runningwind. Sandpaw is their adopted daughter (we need more adoption positivity, plus her having no relation to the clan makes for a cleaner bloodline)

Medicine cat: Spottedleaf

Beautiful spotted torbie she-cat with a white chest, underbelly, and paws and amber eyes

She's not having a love affair with Firepaw/Fireheart in this. Also she's going to live slightly longer cause even tho Im not a fan of hers I want to change that

Warriors:

Lionheart (Apprentice: Graypaw)

Large longhaired golden tabby tom with a broad head, broad shoulders and amber eyes

Instead of dying during the raid Shadowclan leads on Thunderclan camp, he dies when the clan goes to chase out Brokenstar

Tigerclaw

Broad shouldered dark brown tabby tom with a scar across his muzzle and amber eyes

Whitestorm

White tom with a plumy blue-gray tail and yellow eyes

Bluestar raised him alongside Mosskit. So he sees her as his mom figure. He even calls her mom. He still loves Snowfur and sees her as his mother, but Bluestar was there for more of his life so he sees her as a mother too

Following that point, he sees Mosscloud as his sister. He also kind of sees Tigerclaw as a brother but doesn't have as strong of a bond with him as he does with Mosscloud

Mosscloud (Apprentice: Ravenpaw)

White she-cat with lilac patches and blue eyes

It's Mosskit!! She survived

Let me explain how: Bluefur snuck her kits out to bring to Riverclan (as she did in canon). But when she noticed Mosskit was falling behind and growing weak she panicked. She realized her daughter wasn't strong enough to make the journey, not like her littermates. So Bluefur tucked them away under a warm tree root and fetched Oakheart. Oakheart took Mistykit and Stonekit with him, and Bluefur carried Mosskit back to camp. It made her fox kitnapping story more believeable

Mosscloud doesn't really remember what happened that night anyways. If asked she'll say she remembers being cold and out of camp in the snow, and then next thing she knew Bluefur had carried her home. She believes Bluestar's story and believes her littermates are dead

She's really close with her dad, Thrushpelt. During free time she can often be found sharing tongues or having a meal with him

When she is busy, however, she's putting her focus on Ravenpaw. Mosscloud is an incredibly patient cat and wants to draw Ravenpaw out of his shell. She knows he has the potential to be a great warrior

Darkstripe

Black smoke classic tabby tom with a broad face and amber eyes. Like mama Willowpelt he looks like a British Shorthair

Longtail (Apprentice: Firepaw)

Lithe cinnamon silver classic tabby tom with a long tail and blue eyes

He was named a warrior 2 moons before Rusty came to Thunderclan

He was assigned to train Firepaw since he was so keen on testing the tom as soon as he stepped paw in camp (I'll go more in dept on this later)

Runningwind

What does "swift tabby tom" mean @ The Erins???

Here he's a fawn classic tabby tom with yellow-green eyes

He found Sandpaw at the edge of the territory when she was about a halfmoon-moon old kit and immediately brought her home to Thunderclan. She smelled of Windclan and he guessed a queen in the clan had abandoned her

Mousefur

Chocolate ticked tabby she-cat with amber eyes

She's pretty popular among the clan

She's around Longtail's age. They'd been named warriors together

Apprentices:

Sandpaw

Lithe dilute ginger classic tabby she-cat with green eyes

She doesn't know she was adopted from outside of Thunderclan. Nobody wants to tell her and frankly nobody really cares. She has clan blood, that's what's important. Plus she's strong, both physically and in wills

She's the oldest apprentice at approximately 9 and a half-10 moons

Dustpaw

Chocolate smoke tabby tom with amber eyes

He's kinda lean, like his brother. By the way Ravenpaw is his brother

He is 9 moons old at the beginning of Into the Wild

Ravenpaw

Small lithe black tom with a white chest locket, white tail-tip, and purple eyes ((this is my rewrite and I say purple-eyed ravenpaw rights.))

Like his brother he is 9 moons old

Ravenpaw is very grateful for his mentor. At first he feared he'd be given to a cat like Tigerclaw. But when he was given to Mosscloud, he calmed down, if only slightly. He appreciates her kind words and encouragement, and he responds well when she pushes him to do better. He wants to make Mosscloud proud

Graypaw

Longhaired gray tom with yellow eyes, a broad head, and a darker gray stripe from his forehead to his tail-tip. He looks like a British Longhair

He is 6 moons old at the start of Into the Wild, just like in canon. In fact, he'd been named an apprentice the sunhigh before he met Rusty.

He is still Willowpelt's son, despite having siblings who are two moons younger than him. Willowpelt became pregnant again not long after Graykit had been born.

Firepaw

Tom, handsome sorrel Abyssinian mix with green eyes. He's just...really orange

He's plump when he first comes to Thunderclan. Actually he remains kinda chubby

He's 6 moons at the start of Into the Wild

Queens:

Frostfur

Dilute tortoishell point siamese she-cat with a plumy tail and blue eyes

Obviously, her mate is Lionheart. They're the kinda couple who's really mushy and lovey

Her kits are Brackenkit, Swiftkit, and Snowkit

Willowpelt

Silver shaded white she-cat with a broad head and rich blue eyes ("rich" as in super blue. Like deep ocean blue). She looks like a British Shorthair

I decided to make her a queen early. I really like Willowpelt and I think she'd be good as a queen longer

Her mate is Whitestorm

Her kits are Cinderkit and Mistlekit

Before her current kits, Willowpelt had had 2 seperate litters before. Her first born is Darkstripe, who had siblings who had died young. He has an unknown father, but its suspected that he's half Shadowclan. Willowpelt's next litter consisted of one kit: Graypaw, who is also suspected to be half Shadowclan, but by a different tom.

Cinderkit and Mistlekit were born two moons after Graypaw was. This is because Willowpelt had had an out of clan affair, and while expecting a litter, fell in love with Whitestorm. When she was able to, she and Whitestorm mated and it resulted in kits a little sooner than either had expected. Yes this is a real thing that can happen, female cats can get pregnant again anywhere from 1-8 weeks after kitting.

Brindleface

Silver-gray spotted tabby she-cat with yellow-green eyes (I know what Brindle means but I've always headcanoned her to look like this)

She's expecting kits. Nobody knows who the father is though

Goldenflower

Pretty longhaired golden she-cat with broad shoulders, a broad head, and green eyes

She's incredibly fluffy. Even moreso than her brother

Her kits are Brightkit and Thornkit

Nobody knows who the father of her kits are, and she's going to keep it that way

Speckletail

Chocolate tortoishell she-cat

She doesn't have any kits as she is too old. She's just a permanent queen who likes helping newer mothers and kitsitting. She probably won't ever retire.

Kits:

Cinderkit

Blue-gray she-cat with a broad face and blue eyes

She's almost old enough to become an apprentice

Brackenkit

Golden-brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Brackenkit and his littermates are about a moon younger than Willowpelt's kits

Brightkit

Long haired white and ginger patched she-cat with green eyes

She's about a moon old

Thornkit

Longhaired golden tabby tom with orange eyes

Like his sister, he's a moon old

Swiftkit

White and black patched tom with heterochromatic eyes (one yellow and one blue)

Snowkit

Mostly pure white tom with blue eyes and a small patch of gray on the bridge of his nose. He is 100% deaf

I'm keeping this precious baby alive, you'll have to pry him out of my cold dead hands

Mistlekit

Silver shaded white she-cat with a plumy tail and yellow eyes

In canon she's Snowkit's littermate (who the Erins completely forgot about) soo I've revamped her and turned her into Cinderkit's littermate.

Like her sister she's about ready to become an apprentice

Elders:

Halftail

Dark brown tabby tom with a nubby torn off tail

Smallear

Gray tom with small folded ears

Patchpelt

Small black and white patched tom

One-eye

Pale gray she-cat, oldest cat in Thunderclan

Dappletail

Once pretty tortoishell she-cat

Thrushpelt

Lilac classic tabby tom with yellow eyes

He's still in love woth Bluefur but as always it's pretty one sided.

He adores Mosscloud with all his heart as if she were his own kit. As far as he and the clan's concerned, she is his kit. He's so happy he got to be involved in raising at least one of Bluestar's litter

Rosetail

Dilute mostly gray tortoishell with a pale ginger tail, and a white underbelly and paws

She retired early when Thistleclaw died

One day Bluestar explained to her how terrible her brother was, and even though she knows and understands, she still misses him

Cats outside the clan:

Smudge

Tom, Harliquine purebred Japanese Bobtail. Aka he's white and black patched and has a cute nubby tail

He has a little red bowtie collar

Yellowfang

Longhaired, flat faced, dark gray she-cat with a ragged scarred pelt, a yellow snaggle tooth, and orange eyes

Her name is actually Smokefang, but when she's exiled from Shadowclan she changes it.

Cats used to call her yellow-fang as an insult to her hygiene, so she took it on as her identity cause she's that bitch

Jake

Tom, purebred sorrel Abyssinian with amber eyes and a rainbow collar

Why do his owners let him roam around??? They probably don't know he's a pedigree purebred tbh

Nutmeg

Ginger and white tabby she-cat with green eyes

Princess

She-cat, ruddy and white Abyssinian mix with amber eyes and a pink collar

Barley

Black and white tom with yellow eyes and a red bandanna around his neck

Probably has a southern accent

Scourge

Tom, small all black Abyssinian mix with one white paw, ice blue eyes, a tooth studded collar, and dog teeth reinforced claws

Gotta talk about my boi if we're talking about a rewrite. He's probably got a genetic condition through Quince that makes him so damn small. Not to mention he's a runt

His collar is purple cause I make the rules here. And the very front has a bird skull because that's edgy and its a nod to flightfootwarrior/aka @ corvidkatana's old scourge design which I'm incredibly fond of

Also he has a hard time talking and walking. His collar's kinda tight on him now and it hurts to talk. His usual silence comes out more intimidating anyways. As for the difficulty walking thats due to his claws.

[we-rate-warrior-names]

Sleeping Thrush a large long furred tortoishell point tom shy and awkward his entire life has been run by his father Olive Nose who's been pushing him from kithood till now to be "successful" in other words leader. His fathers manipulating of Web Scar ,the current leader, lead his entire apprentice ship to be full of isolation from his peers and no down time. A lot of cats figure the tom feels he's better than them so when he does attempt to speak with them he's met with a cold shoulder.

Sleeping Thrush - A gentle and introverted tom. Sleeping Thrush is the definition of a gentle giant, he would never dream of intentionally harming anyone and he just wants to get along with his campmates, he doesn’t understand why they are so cold towards him, is it something he did? Sleeping Thrush is no expert when it comes to socialising to other cats thanks to his lonely apprenticeship and no matter what Olive Nose says he just can’t be the leader that Olive Nose wants him to be, it’s just not who he is, and he feels terrible because of it, 15/10

[milkywaytrain]

Scum Villain Warrior Cat AU Names

So I actually wrote that Warriors AU, which can be found [here]

But since it can probably be confusing to read a fic where everyone has completely different names, here’s an allegiances list! Like something straight out of a WC book lmao.

Name meanings were taken from the Wiki

(Will be changed over time as the story progresses)

For those unfamiliar with the series (those who are familiar should skip this part), kittens have the suffix -kit, apprentices have -paw, warriors/medicine cats/queens (nursing mothers) have ones unique to themselves, and leaders have the suffix -star. Leaders are in charge of the clan, and the leader chooses who will succeed them as soon as they are appointed. The cat they choose is called the deputy, and helps take on the duties of directing the clan. There is generally only one or two medicine cats at a time, who heal their clanmates using herbs and commune with the dead in cat heaven, aka StarClan (as opposed to cat hell, which is called the Dark Forest or Place of No Stars) and receive prophecies. Warriors hunt and fight for territory. Apprentices are young cats in training. Queens are nursing mothers. Elders are retired warriors. Kits are kittens too young to be apprentices. Rogues and loners are cats without a clan; the former are hostile, the latter are friendly. 

PeakClan

Leader:

Mountainfoot/star (Yue Qingyuan): a long-haired, cream-colored tomcat

[named for Yue: high mountain, Yuan:origin; the foot of a mountain is the beginning of it, so... origin?]

Deputy:

Rainfall (Shen Qingqiu/Yuan): a short-haired tortoishell-and-white tom with yellow-green eyes. His apprentice is Icepaw.

[named for Shen: liquid and Qiu: autumn]

Medicine Cat:

Maplenose (Mu Qingfang): a dark brown tomcat with large white patches on his muzzle, paws, and chest. His apprentice is Mourningpaw. 

[named for Mu: wood, and Fang: fragrance; I took liberties here because maple sounds better than just tree, and I wasn’t sure what to do for fragrance, so. Nose. Debated using Sweetmaple or Sweetbranch instead but decided against it]

Warriors:

Willowsong (Liu Qingge): a short-haired, smoky gray tomcat with amber eyes. His apprentice is Drizzlepaw.

[named for Liu: willow, and Ge: song]

Mothshine (Qi Qingqi): a long-haired, silver tabby she-cat. Her apprentice is Fawnpaw. 

[named for Qi: even, and Qi: luxuriant; moths are symmetrical, shine came about as close to luxuriant as I could think of]

Dearmoon (Shang Qinghua): an orange tabby tom with a crooked tail. His apprentice is Brightpaw. 

[named for Shang: value, and Hua: splendid; something dear is something valued, and cats with the suffix -moon are known for being especially beautiful, which fits with splendid in my opinion]

Duskshade (Su Xiyan, deceased): a dark gray tabby she-cat with dark amber eyes. 

[named for Xi: evening/dusk, and Yan: color]

Apprentices:

Icepaw (Luo Binghe): an especially small and fluffy black tom with dark amber eyes

[named for Bing: icy]

Fawnpaw (Ning Yingying): a golden tabby she-cat with bright green eyes and white paws

[named for Ning: peaceful, Yingying: infant]

Brightpaw (Ming Fan): a brown tabby tom with a white throat, chest, underbelly, tailtip, and one white paw

[named for Ming: bright]

Drizzlepaw (Liu Mingyan): a short-haired, smoky gray shecat with blue eyes

[named for Ming: drizzle, later Yan: mist]

Mourningpaw (Gongyi Xiao): a gray tabby tom with black ears and dark amber eyes

[named for Xiao: mournful; was going to try and tone done the name for him, but his name just really is Like That in the original, huh? So I left it]

DarkClan

Leader:

Desertfrost/star (Mobei Jun): a short-haired, cream colored tom with a dark brown face and tail and bright blue eyes. In human terms, he’s a Siamese cat.

[named for Mo: desert; frost is literally just because I wanted a reference to his originally being an ice demon]

Formerly Dawnsky/star (Tianlang Jun): a large, long-furred black cat with green eyes. 

[named for Tian: sky, Lang: young. The sky is young at dawn?]

Deputy:

Tigermoon (Sha Hualing): a dark ginger she-cat with green eyes and a feathery tail. In human terms, she’s a Somali Red.

[named for Sha: Magnificent, Hua: Splendid; couldn’t think of a way to tie in Ling: bell, but tigers are pretty damn magnificent if I do say so myself, and I used -moon for splendid for the same reason as before]

Medicine Cat:

Bamboobranch (Zhuzhi Lang): a light gray tom with patchy fur and short legs. 

[named for Zhuzhi: bamboo branch]. Apprentice is Dapplepaw. She’s an OC. 

[inslupbanana]

Tiny tortoishell kitten!! Mum got blocked by next larger kitty so about to give drugs to induce a natural birth because little one still has a heartbeat!! :D Sadly very first kitty was also too large and died :(

[sussex-nature-lover]

Sunday 15th August 2021

Butterflies and Other Chatter

Most people seem to be reporting the garden feeders going quiet as birds finish their breeding season and the adults go into moult. Our feeders are still extremely busy with Blue and Great Tits, but also Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Blackbirds, House Sparrows and Starlings are here in big numbers. We’re missing our Chaffinch and haven’t seen many Dunnock of late, but Nuthatch, Goldfinch, Jackdaw and Robin are around, just spotted less frequenty. I’m sure I’m missing out loads more.

Did I say though that when we went up through the Hop Garden last week that it was strangely quiet of birdsong? not at all like it usually is. I mean I know the Swallows prefer the other side of the lane, near the water supplies and some migrants may be already making their way back, but the fields and hedges are usually full of noisy natives too. I have a few pics of that walk for my next entry here. It was a lovely day though and we saw lots of butterflies, which I’ll concentrate on today.

Red Admiral  (Vanessa atalanta)

Do you know, I’m not sure I’ve ever captured a male Red Admiral, their upper stripe is true red, whereas the female has orange, which seems to be the case in all my photos.

UK Butterflies site says

This butterfly is primarily a migrant to our shores, although sightings of individuals and immature stages in the first few months of the year, especially in the south of England, mean that this butterfly is now considered resident. This resident population is considered to only be a small fraction of the population seen in the British Isles, which gets topped up every year with migrants arriving in May and June that originate in central Europe

Whenever we go that way we seem to see mostly Small/Large Whites or Red Admiral butterflies, which figures as they’re one of the most common types. The Red Admirals seem to follow us and I’m never quite sure if I’m photographing the same one! Most of them look rather dusty or rain battered too, but they’re a smashing splash of colour.

The Meadow Browns are smaller and much more discretely coloured - very delicate. We’ve seen quite a number of them, although they’re usually stationary with wings folded in, no matter how long I wait, which is frustrating sometimes. I just read that’s how they always rest (wings folded in) That reminds me of being told Elephants rest by standing still and raising one leg, I wonder if that’s an origin of the saying to take the weight off (your feet)? Seems likely.

Meadow Brown ( Maniola jurtina)

The Meadow Brown is one of our commonest and most widespread butterflies, and a familiar sight throughout the summer months. This species can be found in all parts of the British Isles, with the exception of the most mountainous regions and Shetland. This is a highly variable species with four named subspecies found in the British Isles, although the differences between them are often subtle.

Another orange and brown butterfly is the Comma, which has the very distinctive raggedy pattern to its wing edges.

Comma  (Polygonia c-album)

The Comma is a fascinating butterfly. The scalloped edges and cryptic colouring of the wings conceal hibernating adults amongst dead leaves, while the larvae, flecked with brown and white markings, bear close resemblance to bird droppings.

The species has a flexible life cycle, which allows it to capitalize on favourable weather conditions. However, the most remarkable feature of the Comma has been its severe decline in the twentieth century and subsequent comeback. It is now widespread in southern Britain and its range is expanding northwards.

Small White  (Pieris rapae)

It has brilliant white wings, with small black tips to the forewings and one or two wing spots. The undersides are a creamy white.

The Large White is similar but larger, and has a larger spot in the tip of the forewing that extends down the wing's edge.

I’ve got a few more Butterfly pics in my folder.

Holly Blue  (Celastrina argiolus)

Wings are bright blue. Females have black wing edges. Undersides pale blue with small black spots which distinguish them from Common Blue.

The Holly Blue is easily identified in early spring, as it emerges well before other blue butterflies. It tends to fly high around bushes and trees, whereas other grassland blues usually stay near ground level. It is much the commonest blue found in parks and gardens where it congregates around Holly (in spring) and Ivy (in late summer).

The Holly Blue is widespread but undergoes large fluctuations in numbers from year to year. It has expanded northwards in recent years and has colonised parts of midland and northern England.

I think that photo was in our own garden.

Small Copper (Ycaena phlaeas) photographed at Standen

This little butterfly is commonly found in small numbers in a wide variety of sunny open habitats such as woodland rides, hills, commons and grassy coastal cliff tops.

Small numbers may also be attracted into gardens to nectar on a variety of flowering plants.

The males are restless, highly territorial and easily disturbed.

Both males and females are often seen basking on bare ground and nectaring on a wide variety of flowers such as knotgrass, fleabane, dandelion, buddleias and heathers.

During good summers in the British Isles there may be as many as three generations between April and October, with the last generation overwintering as a caterpillar.

Something I once found at home, which is apparently quite common, but I’ve only ever seen two, is this...

Aren’t they lovely.

White Ermine Moth (Spilosoma lubricipedia)

you can read about it at the wildlife insight page if you click the bold text above.

Now, above and below is a real quandary, for me at least. I’m far away from being any kind of bird or nature expert, I just live in the countryside and enjoy looking and learning. This butterfly on my camera roll has completely confounded me. It’s from an old camera back in 2019 and I’m struggling to identify it. I can’t remember taking it or where it may have been, on a local walk by the look of it, but I’ve honestly begun to wonder if I snapped it on the TV or my laptop screen, not that I can think why I’d have done that, but I can’t work it out at all, even searching for orange butterflies and moths worldwide.

I’ve narrowed down for comparison below, but not found any type of Butterfly with those regular dots on the upper wing like this one. Might it be some kind of Frittillary? No idea, all I know is it has the pearl edging of the Tortoishell and the dark with white patches and some of the round, dark markings of the Painted Lady, I just can’t find a definitive match - not so far anyway.

Internet sourced pics:  Painted Lady above and Small Tortoiseshell below

If anyone can solve my mystery, let me know.

pdf identification of British Butterflies on This Link

OTHER GARDEN NEWS:

The third nest of House Sparrows has fledged, so the side nest box has gone very quiet, however, the open fronted nest box in the porch has subtle changes in appearance most days

We heard an awful lot of baby chirping this afternoon, my phone app said House Sparrows, but it was just generic chirping of nestlings I think. We watched for ages but saw no-one. It was hard to tell if the noises came from the box or the shrubbery just around the corner below. Watch this space - TBC.

WHAT MADE ME LAUGH TODAY? an excerpt in the weekly newletter from an author in France

When we first came to France, there were no gates to our garden, anyone could walk in – and they frequently did! One day Mark, my other half, was cutting the grass peacefully on our ride-on mower when a man driving past our house on a ride-on mower took a detour into our garden and started racing my totaly bemused husband. Up and down they went uttering not a word to each other. Le Mans it wasn’t, but they were both in it to win it. They raced with the speed of a pair of determined but geriatric snails, then the mysterious mower pulled away, raised a hand and disappeared back out of the gate.

Here are more of my photos on my other Tumblr page

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1. Oscar de la Renta Feather, crystal and bead earrings HK$3,360 2. Prada Round-frame tortoishell acetate and gold-tone sunglasses HK$2,095 3. Gucci Printed coated canvas iPhone 6 Plus case HK$1,980 4. Frame Chloe silk blouse HK$1,785 5. Alaïa Laser-cut knitted dress HK$27,560 6. Anya Hindmarch Circulus large laser-cut appliquéd metallic textured-leather pouchHK$5,800 7. MM6 Textured-leather mules HK$3,915 8. Stella McCartney trio belt bag HK$8,653 

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A morning trip to the RSPB reserve on the coast at Titchwell, prompted by the reports of a couple of good birds the night before. As we walked down the track to the freshwater marsh a Great White Egret flew across the reeds giving excellent views. Scanning the marsh from Island hide Sue picked out some small waders, Dunlin, but on checking one had a down-curved bill and a reddish tinge to its body, a Curlew Sandpiper. Back on the path, and with the help of others we had soon located the first of our targets, a Red-necked Phalarope. It was distant and only its behaviour of feeding at a frantic pace made it stand out at that distance. There was no sign of our second target, a Glossy Ibis, which had arrived the evening before and had last been seen flying into the reed-bed. Also present was a flock of 18 Eurasian Spoonbills, over 200 Black-tailed Godwits and 20 Ruffe.

Red-necked Phalarope. Photo by Tom Wilberding (https://www.flickr.com/photos/twilberding/)

As we walked back to the centre scanning the salt marsh, a bird flew across my view and immediately disappeared into the marsh vegetation. It was slender winged, grey with black wing tips and it had a white rump. Although it did not reappear to confirm its identity I am pretty sure that it was a male Hen Harrier, the rarer of our two Harrier species.

Male Hen Harrier. Photo by Radovan Vaclav (https://www.flickr.com/photos/rado_vaclav/)

An excellent mornings birdwatching

Taking a break from nature watching Sue and I went shopping at the North Norfolk Food and Drink Festival held in the walled garden at Holkham Hall.

There were around 60 stands from local producers and on display were everything from meat to cheese; from vegetables to fruit; from cordial to gin and whisky. The great delight about these festivals is going from stall to stall testing and tasting the goods on offer. We brought some provisions for the holiday before stopping at a farm shop in Walsingham to complete our shopping. It is always good to savour the local produce.

  Red Admiral and Comma

Back at our cottage in the afternoon, the garden contained a host of butterflies – Red Admiral, Large and Small White; Comma and Small Tortoishell along with a Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Later in the evening, we saw a Barn Owl flying across the field and around 1030 we heard a Tawny Owl calling and then at least two Barn Owls calling, well more like screaming, as they objected to its presence in their territory. Amazing sound – I have never heard then call before.

Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser) Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca) Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus) Eurasian Spoonbill [sp] (Platalea leucorodia) Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea) Great Egret [sp] (Ardea alba) Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo) Western Marsh Harrier [sp] (Circus aeruginosus) Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) Red Kite [sp] (Milvus milvus) Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo) Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra) Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) Black-tailed Godwit [sp] (Limosa limosa) Ruff (Calidris pugnax) Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) Dunlin [sp] (Calidris alpina) Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus) Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus) Stock Dove [sp] (Columba oenas) Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto) Western Barn Owl [sp] (Tyto alba) Tawny Owl [sp] (Strix aluco) Common Kestrel [sp] (Falco tinnunculus) Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula) Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) Sand Martin [sp] (Riparia riparia) Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica) Common House Martin [sp] (Delichon urbicum) Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus) Willow Warbler [sp] (Phylloscopus trochilus) Common Whitethroat [sp] (Sylvia communis) Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis) White Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla alba) Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs) Common Linnet [sp] (Linaria cannabina) European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)

Large White (Pieris brassicae) Small White (Artogeia rapae) Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) Small Tortoiseshell [sp] (Aglais urticae) Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album) Speckled Wood [sp] (Pararge aegeria)

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

Norfolk journey 2018: Day 2 A morning trip to the RSPB reserve on the coast at Titchwell, prompted by the reports of a couple of good birds the night before.