Holly on Holly

The Spring heatwave continues with the daytime temperature peaking at 24 C. I took my first sojourn in to King's Wood, Heath & Reach and a number of butterflies were active, including a Holly Blue on a Holly bush. There was at least one Large White, a few Orange Tip, a Red Admiral and five Speckled Wood. Bluebells seem to carpet the woodland floor while overhead a pair of Common Buzzard displayed around the nest tree. A drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker revealed its presence in the canopy and a Treecreeper flitted from tree to tree. Very pleasant!

Garden moth trapping last night revealed:

• Argyrotaenia ljungiana - 2
• Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla) - 1
• Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata) - 1
• Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) - 2
• Oak-tree Pug (Eupithecia dodoneata) - 2
• Pebble Prominent (Notodonta ziczac) - 1
• Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) - 1
• Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) - 2
• Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) - 1
• Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) - 2

Holly Blue

Bluebells

There were many hundreds of Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella dancing in the sunlight  only occasionally resting  - this one close to a crab spider...

Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella

2003 Pebble Prominent

Rammamere Heath & King's Wood NNR

It has taken over twenty years of (casual) searching to find an Adder on Rammamere Heath (Buckinghamshire). Not suprising, however, as a great deal was learnt in April on how to best locate them. Weather-wise it was sunny intervals (4/8 Octas), with the mercury approaching 14 Celcius and a coolish SSW wind at Beaufort 3-4. This individual was basking out of the wind on the sunny side of a tangle of dead bracken and birch branches.

Canon 40D, Tamron 180mm macro,
1/200sec, f / 10, ISO 200, tripod

There were plenty of male Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella moths on the wing around the birch saplings.