Mill Hill adders and Grizzlies

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

To  view  a  Slideshow,  click  here  then  choose  Fullscreen  (top  right)

This afternoon I had to visit Mill Hill in case Dingy Skippers had appeared. There were a number of Grizzled Skippers, I saw 3, and Neil spied 4. I also saw a Comma, several Peacocks and a Small White. The adders were the highlight, and I spotted two black and two grey ones. The grey ones were the most visible, and I was able to observe them moving rapidly around their territory, feeding on insects occasionally.

Adder, Vipera berus

Adder, Vipera berus

Adder, Vipera berus

Adder, Vipera berus

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Peacock, Inachis io

Peacock, Inachis io

T-6 Harvard World War II training aircraft

Coming in to land at Shoreham Airport.

Grizzled Skippers at Mill Hill

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

To  view  a  Slideshow,  click  here  then  choose  Fullscreen  (top  right)

I did my first butterfly transect of the year at Mill Hill this morning and was rewarded with two Grizzled Skippers which were first reported on Saturday. I also recorded 1 male Brimstone, 1 Comma, 3 Peacocks, 3 Small Tortoiseshells, 1 Small white and 1 Speckled Wood plus the pyralid moths Pyrausta nigrata, Pyrausta purpuralis and Pyrausta despicata. A Green Woodpecker and two partridges broke cover  at the bottom of the hill. I watched a black adder move along in the under brush and found a dead Wood mouse.

Adder, Vipera berus

Adder, Vipera berus

Bumble bee

Seven-spot ladybird, Coccinella septempunctata

Comma, Polygonia c-album

Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara, minus original tail

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

dead Wood Mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus

Peacock, Inachis io

Peacock, Inachis io

Pyrausta despicata

Pyrausta nigrata

Pyrausta purpuralis

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae

Small White, Pieris rapae

Violet

David Hockney exhibition

David Hockney, "A Bigger Picture"

This morning Jackie, Bea, Sue and I went to the Royal Academy to see the David Hockney exhibition, or should I say Extravaganza. It is a superb exhibition, one of the best we have ever seen. There are a great variety of media in the exhibition - oil, watercolour, mixed, charcoal, film, prints from iPad sketches. Many of the latest ones were produced with the exhibition halls in mind and they fit the wall spaces. They come in a large variety of sizes from iPads to huge works covering the biggest walls. The colour palette in most rooms hits you hard as soon as you enter. He surprises you with some of the colours, so he sees things that I have missed, but that is the artist's eye. The gallery with large prints from iPad sketches is wonderful - the walls have massed ranks of pictures and  your eye darts between them trying to work out where to start. Hockney is a true impressionist - he uses the iPad technology to sketch rapidly to capture the moment. 
The Yorkshire pictures were the most memorable, and I liked the Grand Canyon and LA ones too. Many carried you through months and seasons at the same place, which was fascinating.

If you haven't seen it, do go, but book up on-line if you can as there were queues. It finishes 9th April. Click here for a good blog about the exhibition. 

Also see: http://www.lalouver.com/html/hockney_bio_00s.html

Butterflies and a slow-worm in Littlehampton

Anguis fragilis, slow-worm

Yesterday afternoon I visited a local park and found a two peacocks and a slow-worm. In the morning in a friend's garden I saw a male Brimstone and a Peacock, and he later told me that he had seen a Comma and a Holly Blue.

Inachis io, Peacock

Anguis fragilis, slow-worm

Today I attended a club dig, but only found an 1871 penny. Four hammered coins were found. In one corner of the field a fox cub lay dead.

Last Wednesday I attended the penultimate Heyshott work party. 

Primroses are out

Primroses

Lesser Celandines

Comma wars, lizards and slow-worms

Polygonia c-album, Comma

This afternoon I checked out Rewell Wood and found two slow-worms and four lizards, plus a small rodent's backside diving into the leaf litter. The big event was five Commas, all males fighting for territory. There were plenty of aerial battles and war fever was so great that I saw a bumble bee being chased off by one Comma.

Anguis fragilis, slow-worm 8cm

This was a tiny Slow-worm on 3 inches long

Polygonia c-album, Comma

Polygonia c-album, Comma

Polygonia c-album, Comma

This one has been in a lot of fights!

Anguis fragilis, slow-worm

Zootoca vivipara, Common lizard with second tail