Friday 19 August 2011

Friday 19th. August 2011

Firstly , I must apologise to Greg who commented to let me know that the orange and black ground beetle that I found on the 14th. , was not Panagaeus bipustalatus as I had stated , but one of the Burying/Sexton beetles , either Nicrophorus vespilloides or N. interruptus . I only noticed the comment this morning and I have to say that they all look very similar , but must agree with Greg's correction and thank him for keeping the post on the straight and narrow .
This morning , after the defective grill on the new cooker was fixed by an early visiting engineer , I set off to do the full butterfly transect at High Elms , which turned out to be heaving with people today . Before I had recorded a single butterfly , an unusual hoverfly caught my eye , nectaring on Black Knapweed . I had a feeling that I had seen it before , not in the wild , but on another blog . Once again , Rob/The Living Isle came to my aid , as he had posted the species back in June . Honestly Rob , I'm not stalking you . This wasp mimic is Chryosotoxum bicinctum .
Getting back to the butterfly transect , the results were : Gatekeeper (33) , Meadow Brown (215- second best count of the year) , Painted Lady (1 - pictured ) ,Large White (9) , Green -veined White (1) , Small Heath (8 - pictured ) ,Brown Argus (10) , Small White (7) , Common Blue (11 - including 2 ovipositing females ) ,Speckled Wood (7) , Brimstone (2 - male pictured ) ,Red Admiral (1) , Peacock (1) , Comma (1) and Silver-washed Fritillary (4 - female pictured ) . Had the cloud not rolled in two thirds of the way round , I feel the numbers could have been even better .
Whilst on Burnt Gorse , I noticed two Migrant Hawkers feeding over the ground vegetation . One disappeared , and I watched the other come to rest on the woodland edge . I made my way over to the area , and found a male , perched at just over head height . Whilst trying for a better shot , I noticed a female , perched lower , at about waist level , a couple of metres to the left . It would have been nice to get them both in the same frame , but it proved not possible . Not a lot happening birdwise on the visit , but I did hear Common Buzzard whilst on Burnt Gorse and Tawny Owl whilst at the Orchid Bank .
Several Silver Y moths were seen , and also what I think is a Common Carpet .Whilst enjoying a late lunch in the sun lounge , I noticed a small moth flitting around the herbs Carol has growing on the patio , taking particular interest in the mint . Not surprising really , as it was a female Pyrausta aurata/Mint moth , and she was laying her eggs on the Mint . So we won't be using that .

2 comments:

Rob said...

Interesting to see the Small Heath on an umbellifer - I usually see them on the ground.

Warren Baker said...

I had one of those moffs on our mint Greenie.

No chance of a Brimstone though!!