Attack of the butterflies!

Yes, really, look - here's one going for another!
OK, maybe they were courting, but there was certainly some chasing going on!
It's a Green Veined White (thanks to Steve Wheatley of Butterfly Conservation for help with the ID).

Anyway, the butterfly I was most pleased to see is not rare, it's just one I've never seen before in the wood: the Painted Lady
These were taken out in the wayleave, where there's the combination of lots of sunlight and also Bluebells. I guess when the Bluebells finish soon there'll be other flowers out for them to feed on. Also out there were several Orange Tips. Again not rare, but very striking:
A quick mention must go to the Speckled Yellow Moth - there's lots of these around in the wayleave, but I like this photo as you can see its eyes clearly, and they look different to normal butterfly eyes I think (click on the picture for a larger version):
In the same patch was a Brimstone - I can get pictures of them now I know where they are feeding!
Further down the wayleave were several Small WhitesThey seemed to prefer the Blue Bugle to the Bluebells:
I like the last one, where you can see its proboscis going into the flower to get some nectar.

Here's a couple of pictures of a Large White. They're not particularly good photos, but I wanted to show the different markings to the Small White. They all look very similar from a distance, but once you know what you're looking for you can tell them apart (we're still learning though...).
And finally, the Speckled Wood, which is enjoying flying around the edges of where we coppiced last winter:
Several types of White are also deep inside the wood now, thanks to our wildlife corridor, as is the Brimstone, Comma and Peacock.

That's all for now, another post tomorrow to finish off...

Mike

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SWOG Butterfly ID day

Yesterday we hosted a butterfly ID day in our wood, run by Steve Wheatley from Butterfly Conservation and attended by about 10 SWOG (Small Woodland Owners Group) members.
We started with Steve giving us a talk about butterflies, and why identifying them and keeping centralised records is important. He needs lots of people like us to note down what we see and send records to him periodically, so that they can keep track of species numbers and use the information in scientific research and also in planning permission issues and other stuff like that. He also gave us some tips on how to ID butterflies, including the differences between the various white species, and using knowledge on which months the butterflies can be seen to help narrow down the choices.
We took a walk along the wayleave and also along our wildlife corridor, stopping at various points to talk about what we were seeing.
There was patchy cloud, so it wasn't a perfect day for butterfly spotting, but we still saw quite a few. Here's the ones I got pictures of. A Peacock, looking a bit ragged:A Speckled Yellow - actually a day-flying moth rather than a butterfly:
A Brimstone - this is the first time I have ever seen one of these land so I could take a picture! A shame it wouldn't spread its wings out, but at least I now know a potential spot to go and try again.
We also saw some other interesting things as we went around, such as this bird nest up a pylon. Any ideas what it might be?
and in the wildlife corridor, where we were felling just a few months ago, as well as several butterflies we found an adder, which had probably been basking in the sun:
It didn't like the attention, and slithered off to a hole in a coppice stump - it certainly seemed to know exactly where to go and hide!
Mike

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Allotment produce and wildlife

We had another order for produce from the wood for use at the allotment to fulfil this weekend, so went up with the trailer and brought various stuff back. Pea sticks, tomato poles and stakes for fruit trees:
The rest of this post covers the wildlife we saw this weekend...
Meanwhile everything is growing like crazy. Some of the chestnut stools have grown 12 inches now!
The wayleave outside the wood is denser than ever:
and seems to be a good place for someone to eat their dinner:
The pond is also coming on well, getting very green now:We also some some familiar insects today, such as this Speckled Yellow moth:
and this Peacock butterfly:and a new one, a damselfly. There's a competition going on here... the first picture is by me with the Nikon, and the second is by Tracy with the Panasonic, you have to tell us which is best (ignoring colour differences, which can be evened out in post-processing)!
apparently the most obvious difference between these and dragonflies is that damselflies fold the wings back when at rest, while a dragonfly keeps them outstretched.

And finally, an unknown fly:
Mike

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Moth ID

Well, now I know why I couldn't ID the butterfly we saw yesterday - it was a moth! Our friend Stuart helped us out...

Here's the picture again:
It's a Speckled Yellow, a common day-flying moth in Southern England, often seen in woodland and scrubland, according to UK Moths.

No idea on the other one yet,

Mike

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