It might have been cloudy with the Fog Horn blaring away, but it certainly wasn't cold. In fact it was really muggy and when the sun did appear for brief moments it was really really warm.
In Wakeham Wood a Blackcap was singing and overhead a pair of House Martin's were catching food, hopefully for youngsters close by.
It was definitely a butterfly day and 8 Painted Lady's was not expected. There were some really pristine looking "Lady's" and then at the other end of the scale a few which were very very worn.
Also noted were 2 Marbled Whites, 30+ Meadow Browns and 2 Common Blues in the meadows. Whilst in the hedgerows there were Large Whites, Green-veined Whites, a Holly Blue and 2 Red Admirals.
With so many butterflies about it was no surprise to see 2 Emperor Dragonflies working their way along the hedgerows and meadows.
The warm conditions also saw 8 or so Six-Spot Burnet moths on the wing and apart from a good number of Garden Grass-veneers there were also 2 Silver Y's in the grasses.
Here are a few images from today:
There are two meadows I visit, this one which very soon will be fenced off for horses and this.........
............one just the other side of the fence line.
This one has a few tears in its wings............
...........whilst this one has had better days.
So many Meadow Browns today. If I said there were 30 there were probably more.
Also out were many Six-Spot Burnet moths.
And today I had two Silver Y moths.
A Common Drone Fly
A pair of Common Green Shieldbugs mating.
The colours don't seem perfectly right but I'm pretty sure this is a final instar nymph of a Red-legged Shieldbug.
An easy one a Dock Bug.
I don't think I'm going to be able to ID this one so beetle sp, it will be.
This is a Nursery Web Spider and probably the darkest brown specimen I have ever found.
A Long Hoverfly
A Mullein Moth caterpillar. Correction there are actually two in the photo.
The Lackey Moth caterpillar
Rightly or wrongly I am going to report these as Six-Spot Burnet Moth caterpillars. Every Burnet Moth I have come across in the Meadows has been a Six-Spot and not the scarcer Five-Spot.
On the left a worker Red-tailed Bumblebee and on the right a male.
Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, 2 House Martin, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 1 Blackcap, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow and Chaffinch.
Butterflies Recorded: Large White (Pieris brassicae), Green-veined White (Pieris napi), 30+ Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), 2 Marbled White (Melanargia galathea), 2 Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), 7 Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), 1 Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) and 2 Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)
Moths Recorded: 10+ Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella), 2 Silver Y (Autographa gamma), 3 Hook-streak Grass-veneer moth (Crambus lathoniellus) and 8+ Six-Spot Burnet Moth (Zygaena filipendulae)
Bees Recorded: Honey Bees, Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum), Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded: 2 Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator)
Hoverflies Recorded: Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta) and a Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)
Bugs and Beetles Recorded: Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Ischnomera cyanea), Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis), 3 Common Green Shieldbugs (Palomena prasina), final instar nymph of a Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) and 2 Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus).
Slugs and Snails Recorded: White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis) and a Garden Snail (Cornu aspersa)
Grasshoppers and Crickets Recorded: 1 Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)
Moth Caterpillars Recorded: Six-Spot Burnet Moth, 2 Mullein and The Lackey
Spiders Recorded: Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
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On this day..........
2018Today's Sightings Here.
2017
Today's Sightings Here.