Elusive Butterfly - Bob Lind

Not particularly a Sun worshipper myself, but we would be surely lost without it so a welcome change, if nothing else, to be kissed by the Current Bun yesterday! The biggest benefit were the Insects it encouraged into the open, particularly the butterflies which we will dwell on alone on this post.

Most numerous of them all and maybe the Poster Boy of the genre

RED ADMIRAL
and on this occassion obliging and even allowing a

PARACITE
to graze off of it while grazing itself.

BRIMSTONE

and

COMMA
(showing here from where the name originates)
were only in small numbers but it was a surprise to still see an

ORANGE TIP
on the wing close to the end of their season.

LARGE WHITE's
were also knocking around with not a sniff of their close cousins the
Small White
but adiquaitly backed up by the also numerous

MARBLED WHITE

SPECKLED WOOD
were as ever favouring the 'rides' along the tree-lined paths on the Heath with

SMALL COPPER
also holding teritory there as are the always unobliging

GREYLING
(on Bell Heather)
never seeming to open their wings and always hit or miss the often migrant

CLOUDED YELLOW

MEADOW BROWN

perching long enough to allow for this short 'clip'.

PEACOCK
always a welcome addition and we are calling our final insect

SMALL SKIPPER
but if not would welcome a 'correction'!

However, the final happening of the day was also WINGED as driving through one of the Solar Panel Compounds

THE RED ARROWS

flew directly above our head

and feel we did quite well

given the Short Notice!

Black is Black - Los Bravos

  BUT WHITE CAN BE WHITER!

Despite the lightest of rain and something of a draught coming from the south west again we did relatively well from the Moth Traps with

SMALL SCALLOP

SWALLOW-TAILED MOTH

BORDERED BEAUTY

CLOUDED SILVER
along with

SCALLOP SHELL
and while we don't wish to hit you with a BBC style 'repeat' of Monday's Post there was what we consider to be another wave of juvenile

SWALLOWs
which as a maximum we have never recorded

more than 2 pulses of such

in a single season

so make the most of it as

we may not see the likes of it again for

Another Year!
Just to put a slight slant on that there were also a couple of

JUVENILE STONECHATs

along with them.
All else included some other rather interesting and bizzare looking Insects away from the traps

such as

WESTERN CONIFER SHIELDBUG

TIGER CRANEFLY
and a

PINE CHAFER
but ALL out-bizzared by this almost totally albino / leucistic

PUFFIN
sent to our Editor by John Gifford.

All in a Mouses Night - Genesis

 With the weather still nowhere near SUMMER it has turned a little for the better which has been reflected at the Moth Traps. Decent additions to the Year List

have included

RED-NECKED FOOTMAN

BLUE-BORDERED CARPET

CLAY

BUFF ARCHES

and as the name suggests the

DELICATE
Elsewhere, and at this man-made spinney known as

The Island
we once again found, under the only cover therein, the only

COMMON LIZARDs

among the

THISTLES

which is the only site here known to

support such a creature.

A vocal but all to distant

WREN

added to the visit as did the first juvenile

COMMON BUZZARD

we have noted this year but under the same circumstances.

On the Heath we found this lot still breeding like

RABBITs

and in part predictably

SMOOTH SNAKE

along with masses of

ANTS

with thier

EGGS
but on this occassion not one

WOOD MOUSE

but

c2

WOOD MICE

under successive covers which is a record for here and with the

MULLEIN
now well above ground level it should only be a matter of days before we see the
Yellow Spikes of Flower - feel we are getting a little behind with this?