Family visit to the woods

This week my parents and my sister Cath were in town for a couple of nights, and as it was sunny one of the days, we went for a visit to the woods, and my Dad took some photos...
It was the first time they'd seen the regrowth at the top of Sweep Wood, with the Ash, Elder and Chestnut doing exceptionally well:
There's a whole range of plants growing up there, and the insects are loving the thistles, including this Large White and Meadow Brown:
There's a few garden escapees as well, and I think this is the first time I've seen a tomato plant growing wild!
Our walk in the woods continued on, investigating animal borrows:
and trying out the new bridge over the stream:
We came across what I think was an egg from a Wood Pigeon:
Then we were back at the camp, where there were some logs we'd left lying around after splitting, as we heard Cath was keen to do some work up there! So we set her on them...
as a result, the store is now nearly full!
Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Even more butterflies

Yesterday we were up at the wood for some friends visiting, and while we were waiting we did a bit of trimming of the vegetation at the side of the track in the wayleave:Along the way we saw dozens of butterflies - I think this year is much better for them than last year! Here's some pictures of them.

Meadow Brown's were abundant (you can identify them by the single white spot inside the black spot on their wings):
A butterfly that can look superficially similar with its wings shut is the Gatekeeper, but it has two white spots inside the black spot. With it's wings open it is quite different though - here's the first good photos I've had of one:
and I was especially pleased to get this picture of one taking off:
Another butterfly I got in flight was this Large White:
I got these photos of butterflies in flight by chance, but I'm trying to come up with a way of getting them deliberately... more to come if it works out!

And finally, this year's invasion of Painted Ladies continues unabated:
That's all for now.
Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.

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

Click here to read the rest of this post.