Wednesday 6th. June 2012

Firstly , many thanks to Spock and Dean / DDD for correcting my moth ID from yesterday , it was in fact a Silver Ground Carpet . Undeterred , I'll have another try today .Got out for an hour or so before lunch , and the afternoon showers , and spent the time up on the Common , in very windy conditions , which were no help with photography . It was warm enough , but very little was showing on the wing , so I went looking for Brimstone caterpillars . I found very few eggs this year , so wasn't expecting to find many caterpillars , but , using the aid of looking for

munched leaves on the Buckthorn , they started to show up . Including the two above , I found eight eggs , so hopefully Brimstones will be flying again later in the year . Seven Small Heath were recorded , lifting off ground vegetation as I passed , together with a single Speckled Wood , and a

very worn looking female Holly Blue , no doubt the scales on the topwing were washed off by the recent rains . Much of the heathland looks as if it has snowed recently , the ground covered with the

tiny white flowers of Heath Bedstraw / Galium saxatile . I'm hoping that my moth ID is right today ,

as I'm sure I have been told the name of this one before , Brown Silver-line . Still not a lot of colour

about , but this Dog Rose / Rosa canina , was just about to burst bud . In one of the small glades , the

first of just two Common Spotted Orchids has just come unto flower . In the same glade , this Crab

Spider was definitely taking the 'Big Lunch' literally . The 'meal' , which looks like Tachina

magnicornis , is obviously several times larger than the Crab Spider , but it was a case of David winning over Goliath . It would have been interesting to have been there at the onset of the meeting .

On the way back to the car , a Sloe Bug / Dolycoris baccarum was found , posing on the seed head of the grass Yorkshire Fog . And finally , a small , well marked moth , being battered by the wind , that

I am definitely not going to attempt to identify , but would be pleased if someone would . Once again , it is thanks to Dean / DDD for identifying the moth as Alabonia geoffrella , and for reminding me that I have infact found this species before , but I'm afraid it doesn't mean I remember them !