Something a bit different today and that was checking out two butterfly reserves and the meadow across the road from the cottage.
Main highlight was seeing dozens of Six-spot Burnet Moths. They must have all hatched out in the past 24 hours or so, they were everywhere.
When I left the cottage its was fairly cloudy and very few butterflies. However 40 minutes later and there were butterflies everywhere.
Here are a few images from today:
Wakeham Meadow where there were..........
............both Chalk Hill Blue (left) and Common Blues.
The Chalk Hill Blue
And the Common Blue with a Six-Spot Burnet moth just below it.
This appears to be an excellent year for Gatekeepers. I've never seen so many.
And the Six-Spot Burnet Moth is still in its cocoon under the umbellifer
This colourful Yellow-spot Tortrix moth was one of several flitting around the Privets and at more than one location.
This is the old Easton Railway Cuttings and as the sun started to come out, so did..........
...........the Marbled Whites and............
............Small Blues.
One of many Garden Grass-veneers seen at both the meadow and the Cuttings.
If I have ID'd this correctly.............
............this is a male Ichneumon sarcitorius
A 3rd instar nymph of a Common Green Shieldbug.
Perryfields Quarry Butterfly Reserve
One of the many Gatekeepers on the wing at the moment.
Wings shut
Wings open.
A White-tailed Bumblebee..........
.........and a Red-tailed Bumblebee. Both on Knapweed.
A bug, a beetle I have no idea.
Wakeham Railway Cutting.
Lesser Hornet Hoverfly
And a 7-Spot Ladybird.
And a really chilled looking Ted.
And Ted helping me find the butterflies on the reserve.
Mammals Recorded: Grey Squirrel
Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Swallow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Common Whitethroat, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch
Reptiles Recorded: Lizard sp
Butterflies Recorded: Small Skipper, Large White, Small White, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Marbled White, Small Blue, Common Blue and Chalk Hill Blue.
Moths Recorded: Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella), Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae) and several Yellow-spot Tortrix (Pseudargyrotoza conwagana)
Bees Recorded: Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum), Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) and a possible Blunthorn Nomad Bee (Nomada flavopicta)
Wasps Recorded: Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
Ichneumon Wasps Recorded: A male Ichneumon sarcitorius
Hoverflies Recorded: Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis) and Syrphus sp.
Bugs and Beetles Recorded: 7-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata), Common Green Shieldbug nymph (Palomena prasina), Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) and Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
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