Saturday 30 June 2012

Saturday 30th. June 2012

After a showery morning , things started to clear up and brighten , so I made two local visits , the first to West Wickham Common in the hope of White Admiral or an early Purple Hairstreak , neither of which was found , and then after lunch to the Farm lake to see what was happening there . Neither visit was exactly exciting , but here are the best bits of both :
A smart Red Admiral which refused to show the upper wing .
One of three Large Skippers recorded , this a female .
A male Blackcap , singing continuously , but showing very rarely .
Except when he found someting tasty to eat .
On the Bramble , several Strangalia maculata , a very variable species of longhorn beetle .
Along the sides of the paths , lots of Dovesfoot Cranesbill / Geranium molle .
Creeping over the Ranger's fence , White Bryony / Bryonia cretica .
The Farm lake was very quiet , with no sign of the young Mallards or the young Little Grebe .
Lots of male Black-tailed Skimmers (pictured) , a single male Emperor Dragonfly andd a few damselfies , very disappointing .
Keeping up with yesterday's yellow theme , Lady's Bedstraw / Galium verum is coming into flower all around the lake . A singing Common Whitethroat , two Swallows and a very brief glimpse of a Hobby as it swooped on the surface of the lake were the only birds of real interest .

2 comments:

Warren Baker said...

You did well with the photography today Greenie, is that down to the good light :-)

Glad you posted the Long horn beetle, I saw one of those this morning, and wondered what it was. :-)

ShySongbird said...

Lovely photos Greenie. The beetle is rather impressive, I don't think I've seen one of those.