Saturday 11th. June 2011

Firstly , thanks very much to Phil/Sharp by Nature , for identifying the two insects on yesterdays post as the nymph and adult form , in that order , of Calocoris roseomaculatus . Cheers Phil .

With the forecast giving a better morning than afternoon , I set off for High Elms , to do the butterfly transect , hoping for better results than last time . By the time I had finished the Conservation Field , which takes about 20 minutes on its own , I realised that nothing had changed , as I only recorded 20 or so Meadow Browns in that time . Needless to say , that species also made up the bulk of butterflies recorded , with 77 , including this mating pair making it into the book . Common Blues were down to just 9 , with most of them very faded , like this female . Large Skipper (5) , Small Skipper (6) , Small Heath (1) and Speckled Wood made up the remainder of the sightings . In the Conservation field I did find a couple of 6-spot Burnet moth caterpillars , and also , the empty cocoon case of the same species , meaning that the moth should be on the wing , but I didn't see any . Along the paths in the woodland , last weekends rain has brought on waist high splashes of vivid yellow colour , Nipplewort/Lapsana communis , a member of the Daisy family . Also along the paths , the caterpillars of the Orange Tip butterfly are almost fully grown now , and will soon pupate into chrysalis form , in which they will spend the rest of this year and early next , before emerging as adults in their own right . Things were still slow when I reached Burnt Gorse , but a sighting of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth changed all that . It was only in view for 30 seconds or so , but had me chasing all over trying to get a shot . In the end , I did get a few , but not a decent one amongst them . The best of a poor bunch was this , still blurry even with a shutter speed of 1/4000th. of a second . The last specimen I saw was also on Burnt Gorse last year if memory serves , but I didn't even get a shot of that one .

The Birds-nest Orchids are going over now , but I was pleased to find four fresh Fly Orchids on the Orchid Bank , which over doubles their number on the site this year . The last shot was of the hoverfly Helophilus pendulus , feeding on Field Rose/Rosa arvensis .

I've been meaning to mention the number of juvenile Jackdaws around , most hatched in nests in the chimneys of the houses around , and now out , are hanging around street corners waiting for something to happen . This one seems to have a problem with one leg .

And finally , a moth for identification please , small , but a definite pattern .