Saturday 1st. June 2013

Now to finally catch up with myself .
With just a small window of reasonable weather on the cards , I decided to see if I could locate the Small Blue that Martin , who does the butterfly transect at Hutchinsons Bank , had found yesterday , the first sighting of the species on site this year . On the way , I stopped for a look at Spring Park Pond , a week on from my last visit . After a decent day yesterday , I was expecting better than the Odonata no show that followed . The weather can be blamed for some of the lack of sightings , but the yearly clear out of vegetation , which is due to go ahead again later this month has got to be blamed too . The biggest problems are Marestail / Hippuris vulgaris , which is choking the pond and silt , washed down from higher ground , even though a 'silt trap' is in place , the end where the supposed silt free water enters the pond is now higher than the water level , so effectively the pond is getting smaller and smaller , whilst getting more and more choked with vegetation , all adding up to less and less Odonata . After a couple of years of it's existence , about 15 species were recorded , now , if half are recorded it's better than average . What with the farm lake in new ownership and my free access gone and the downward spiral with this pond , I think I need to find 'pastures new' , or should that be 'lakes , ponds new' . A look through the vegetation close to the pond and around the small meadow , some distance away also failed to find any Odonata . A few bits of interest were found , a Green-veined White butterfly , wings open in cloudy conditions was obviously wrong , but

answered by the appearance of a white Crab Spider , prepared to keep possession of it's meal .Close by , a Red-headed Cardinal Beetle / Pyrochroa serraticornis , apparently more common than it's

Black-headed relation , was trying to warm up on another Bramble leaf . I read there is actually a third , much rarer relation the Scarce , but that is only found in Wales and Scotland . Keeping on the red track , two specimens of the Red and Black Leafhopper / Cercopis vulnerata were found , no

doubt their numbers will increase quickly , if last year was anything to go by . Looking over in the direction of Hutchinsons Bank , some brighter weather was coming in , so I made my way over there to take advantage of it . It worked well .arriving in warm , sunny conditions , but it was obvious that the butterflies didn't agree , as not a single one was on the wing . I walked up and down the scrapes and other areas of Kidney Vetch , the food plant for the species , several times and saw nothing . Eventually , two Small Heath were seen and a Common Lizard , sunbathing on a large leaf , at least

was something to look at . A real poser this one , and it wasn't until the lens hood was almost

touching it's nose that it moved further down into the vegetation . After much walking and cloud moving in , I did find the Small Blue that Martin had seen the day before , and after a few short

flights , it settled and I was able to get a few shots of this pristine male . This is the smallest British

butterfly , looking on the underside very similar to the Holly Blue , and is only found where Kidney Vetch on which the female lays her eggs and the caterpillars feed , grows . The only other species on

 the wing whilst I was there was a Burnet Companion , day flying moth . And finally , talking of moths , one I found in vegetation at Spring Park Pond . Quite small , the size of a Holly Blue , I

thought at first Small Purple-barred , but went off that very quickly when I started digging when I got home .