Sunday 7 July 2013

Sunday 7th. July 2013

A quick catch up on a very hot weekend . Yesterday , I did the full butterfly transect at High Elm LNR , with 10 species being recorded , still way down . 4 species recorded good numbers , Meadow
Brown (160) , Ringlet (107) , Small Skipper (11 one pictured) and Speckled Wood (10) , but the others , Large Skipper (2) , Small Heath (2) , Common Blue (4) , Large White (1) , Small

Tortoiseshell (2) , Red Admiral (1 a really freshly emerged female-pictured) and a very fresh Dingy
Skipper . On the way round , passed a LTTit family feeding avidly , so much so that they didn't bother about me . Two Capsid Bugs , I think , landed on me , and although not mating , were
unwilling to separate from each other . Even when I placed them on vegetation , they stayed together . On Burnt Gorse , an Oak sapling was trying to be a Red Oak , but the leaf is wrong , more
 likely to be Sessile Oak . , and a moth that I thought would have been in the Carpet family , but can't
find it on UK Moths . I tried to get closer , but it flew . Many thanks to Marianne and Spock for identifying the moth as one of the forms of Silver Carpet , and to Spock again for suggesting that the Burnet Moth on the previous post was in fact a Narrow Bordered Five Spot . On the Orchid Bank , I found Terry Laws , who told me that he had a Fritillary fly by a little earlier , good news to my ears . After a catch up , we went our separate ways . Good to meet up again Terry .
This morning , I decided to visit the local farmhouse where the House Martins nest , having seen a couple of birds on my way home yesterday . I was well pleased to find at least 7 nests occupied and
all seemed to have well grown young . If this weather holds , they should be able to get another brood off , even though it will be later than usual . I think that was on the minds of the adults on the left ,
who returned several times without feeding their young , probably to encourage them out of the nest .
I then made a visit to Salt Box Hill below Biggin Hill Airport , the site ruined by the grazier's ponies . I did see one Marbled White and a couple of other species , but nothing like what it used to be . I think I mentioned that he had now left the area to graze down in the West Country , and subsequently sacked from that position . With the temperature still rising , my last call was back to High Elms , but to concentrate on just two species , Silver-washed Fritillary and White Admiral . I failed to find either , but did find Keith , of last Sunday's Black Hairstreak outing , and later his parents , who arrived not knowing that he was there . Just before spotting them , Keith found a large moth in the
grass , in the process of expanding it's wings . After much head scratching , Keith came up with Large Yellow Underwing , and although it had disappeared half an our later when we went back , I think he was spot on , once I had a look on the web . His parents were interested in seeing the Yellow Birdsnest , and after a catch up they left , closely followed by myself . Keith stopped on a bit , but didn't manage to find either of the two species that I was after either .
And finally , WELL DONE ANDY , LETS HOPE WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER 77 YEARS .

7 comments:

Warren Baker said...

I didn't see a single 'White' Butterfly all day greenie.

Marianne said...

Could your mystery moth be Silver-ground Carpet? Great to see the busy House Martins, and that spanking Red Admiral.

Marc Heath said...

Nice selection Greenie. Nice to see the House Martins, a rare sight in some parts.

Spock said...

The moth is one of the forms of Silver-ground Carpet

ShySongbird said...

Lovely, sunny insect photos Greenie including my favourite flutter the Red Admiral. Good to see the House Martins doing well.

Yes, it was a good match. I'm a big tennis fan especially Wimbledon so thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm sure Ivan Lendl has made all the difference to Andy, he now has that dogged determination and tenaciousness that Lendl had and the ability to keep his nerve.

Phil said...

Another nice post Greenie. Nice to see some active House Martins nests. Unfortunately ours has remained empty this year.

Julie Hargreaves said...

Great set of photos