Very quiet at the first site , and although reasonably warm , very little on the wing . Just 2 Meadow Browns , 5 Common Blues and 2 Brown Argus were all the butterflies recorded . Just Coots , Moorhens and a single Little Grebe on the water , until this bird came out of the reeds . It
looks to me like a juvenile , but I have not seen any young here for weeks , and can only assume that it was driven off it's own water , and settled here . My suspicions were enforced when the 
resident male spotted the youngster , and chased it across the lake , until it took refuge in an area of lily pads . Will be interesting to see how the battle pans out .Even fewer dragonflies than butterflies were found , with just 4 Common Darters , and this male
Migrant Hawker being recorded .The lack of butterflies continued at High Elms , with none being seen until reaching Burnt Gorse . Even then , the first recording made was what the male Migrant Hawker at the Farm lake was
looking for , a female . A few Meadow Browns were recorded before finding this specimen , which
I have found several similar recently . A bit of searching when I got home , identified it as a fifth instar , the stage just before adulthood of the Common Green Shieldbug-Palomena prasina . Also
found was a shiny specimen of the Sloe Bug-Dolycoris baccarum .A single Large White , 7 Brown Argus and 8 Common Blues , including this female , which was in
the act of egglaying . She stayed in this spot for some time , and when she moved off , I found a 
single egg on the Birds Foot Trefoil , and , unusually , two more laid on a blade of grass . These will hatch in about two weeks , and the caterpillars will overwinter as such .
As I left through the five bar gate , a Robber Fly posed on the top rail . A quick check on the Orchid Bank once again failed to find any SWFs or WLHs , so I think these two species have
finished now . I did however find a nice specimen of the Treble Bar moth , along with at least two more Hornet sightings .Still not great amounts of fungi , but on the way back to the car I found a few Wood Mushroom-
Agaricus silvicola , as their name suggests , deep in the woodland .
1 comment:
A good selection again, Greenie, I particularly like the Migrant Hawker photo.
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