The roasting weather has continued, giving us a good indication as to what a real summer should feel like. I went out to do survey number 6 up at Clifton Grove on Friday. I had expected the butterfly numbers to be high, and was not disappointed, ending with 103 individuals seen on the 1km transect. The majority of these were Ringlets, with 65 being seen floating quietly through the grass stems. They really are a wonderful little butterfly, whose numbers peak around now, and they seem to do very well up here, better than any other species.
Otherwise there were a lot of others flying around including reasonable numbers of Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood. The skippers seem to be livening up too, with a few Large and Small Skippers noted throughout the transect. I also saw 2 Small Tortoiseshells, the first time I've recorded this species up here since a single butterfly seen on the very first transect I did at the beginning of april 2012.
Holme Pit was again a hive of activity, with loads of around, including the first Gatekeeper I'd seen this year, along with 5 other species. Odonata activity was high too with lots of copulating damsels, and clusters of 100s of Common Blues over the open water. Dragons were appearing more frequently too with lots of Brown Hawkers, along with an Emperor or two and a Broad-bodied Chaser.
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| Damsels copulating |
On some stinging nettles by the path were some well developed Peacock Caterpillars, munching their way through the foliage, so hopefully in a couple of weeks we should be seeing lots of them as emerged adults. Just before leaving, I disturbed a Barred Yellow moth, a first for me, with a distinctive resting position matched only by its close relative the Spinach. I let it rest without photographing it though. I'm itching to go down to the lake again soon, to get some photos of the dragonflies, which I think will be a good challenge.
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| Peacock caterpillars |
On Friday evening I ran the moth-trap again, as the temperature was due to stay around the high teens throughout the night, good conditions for mothing. I was correct in my judgement as when I opened the trap in the morning I was greeted with my best catch yet, 45 moths of 5 species. This was made up of 8 macro species and 7 micros.
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| Nice box of moths |
The macros consisted of:
The Flame - 1 Dark arches - 3
Marbled Beauty - 7 The Uncertain - 10
Heart & Dart - 2 Riband Wave - 3
Coronet - 1 Sycamore - 1
The latter two were new ones for me, and the Flame was new for the garden. I'm still in the process of identifying the micros, as I still havent got the micro id book yet.
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| Sycamore and Dark arches |
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| Coronet |
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| Marbled beauty |
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| Riband Wave |
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