Almost 3 hours around the meadow above Wales Lodges. Plenty of thistles and masses of Knapweed attracting loads of butterflies and a decent selection of daytime moths. Also a couple of Buzzards kept me company.
97 Small Skippers 46 Large Whites 11 Small Whites 42 Green-veined Whites 4 Small Coppers 26 Small Tortoiseshells 48 Peacocks 1 Comma 1 Speckled Wood 33 Gatekeepers 65 Meadow Browns
Dozens of Udea lutealis A few Straw Dot 6 Silver Y 2 Gold Spot 1 Burnished Brass 1 Smoky Wainscot 1 Shaded Broad-bar
At first I thought I had four different species of ladybirds on an umbelifer. Further examination revealed 4 variations of Harlequins. One 7-spot was elsewhere.
At last ! Able to do a 3 hour mooch around Wales Lodges and the whole meadow between the lodges & the golf course without worrying about the sun disappearing.
171 Large Skippers (I have had 100+ before but never this many), 1 Large White, 2 Green-veined Whites, 1 Speckled Wood, 11 Meadow Browns.
96 Silver-ground Carpets (like the skippers they covered the whole meadow), 2 Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnets (I expect many more when they get going), 1 Snout.
50+ Celypha lacunana, numerous Bactra lancealana, Agriphila tristella, Chrystoteuchia culmella, Nettle-tap, Timothy Tortrix, & Nemophora degeerella.
1 Light-brown Apple Moth, 1 Syndemis musculana.
3 Brown Hawkers, 2 Broad-bodied Chasers.
Damselflies :- Large Red, Common Blue, Azure, Blue-tailed.
1 Common Green Grasshopper
1 Roe Deer.
1 large Common Toad, 1 small Common Frog. Still lots of tadpoles in the lodges.
Meadow behind Wales Lodges this morning. Very wet grass as I trudged through it.
A young doe Roe Deer 2 Large Skippers. I was surprised to see any butterflies in the overcast conditions. 20+ Silver-ground Carpets Hundreds of grass moths disturbed, mostly Bactra lancealana again. Also picked out Timothy Tortrix, Nettle-tap, Chrysoteuchia culmella, Crambus lathoniellus, Agriphila tristella, Celypha lacunana.
As with butterflies not good weather for dragonflies/damselflies. Only saw an Azure and a Blue-tailed damselfly at the lodges.
Roe Deer watching me from the long grass by Wales Lodges, whilst I was watching a bright orange Koi Carp. A Grey Squirrel ran along the bank of the lodge. A Rabbit at Eagley Sports Complex.
Wales Lodges :- Large Red, Azure, and Blue-tailed damselflies. Hundreds of tadpoles.
Wild flower meadow behind the lodges. Most flowers have still not appeared, but plenty of thistles. I managed over half an hour with the sun out which made all the difference after a fruitless first overcast mooch. 2 Large Skippers (my first ones this year) 1 Green-veined White 1 Orange Tip
Grass moths everywhere with at least a thousand Bactra lancealana, and a few Chrysoteuchia culmella. Ancylis badiana Aethes cnicana Anthophila fabriciana (Nettle-tap) Celypha lacunana 3 Silver-ground Carpet 2 Beautiful Golden Y
1 Common Frog Azure damselfly White-tailed Bumblebee & Carder Bees (still a shortage of bees around) Red & Black Froghoppers & other froghopper/leafhopper species Green Lacewings Scorpion Flies Various Cranefly species A few hoverflies. My rush to check moths before the sun disappeared again meant I did not spend time identifying them. Helophilus pendulus & Leucozona lucorum amongst them. Grass Spider and other spiders I failed to identify from photos
Odonata at Wales Lodges. Finally after my moan yesterday about only seeing Large Red damselflies this year things seem to be picking up, even though that particular species was absent here. 2 Broad-bodied Chasers (1m + 1f) A few Azure damselflies
Butterflies :- 1 Large White Numerous Green-veined Whites 3 Orange Tips 1 Small Tortoiseshell 1 Speckled Wood
Moths :- 1 Silver-ground Carpet at Gleaves Lodge 1 Chimney Sweeper off Belmont Road Cydia ulicetana common on Gorse bushes Common Heaths & Latticed Heaths near Wilton Arms
4 Roe Deer around Longworth Lane/Wales Lodges this morning and a doe near Fernhill Farm. 1 Grey Squirrel and a few bumble bees, but not the weather for doing insect reports yet.
On my way out this morning I saw a couple of Roe Deer from the old bus terminus on Blackburn Road. The queue of traffic must have wondered what I was photographing. I took photos as mother was washing her yougster, oblivious of myself or the traffic.
Early this afternoon on my way back from Belmont the sun was shining on Wales Lodges, allowing a Koi Carp to bask just below the surface. This individual appeared last year, with a similar sized Catfish and a Terrapin. Something which kept diving from sight on both morning and afternoon visits was probably the Terrapin. Whilst watching the Koi I saw a disturbance nearby on the water. On closer inspection I saw the heads of four Common Frogs.
