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| Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus |
On Saturday I visited Kithurst Hill and Chantry Hill. There
were Clouded Yellows at both places and Silver-spotted Skippers at Chantry. A pair
of Red Kites drifted over Kithurst. Today I climbed Cissbury Ring and found six Adonis
Blues in excellent condition, a Wall and spotted Clouded Yellows six times. A 'Fairey Swordfish II' flew over on the way to the Shoreham Air Show.
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| view from Chantry Hill |
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| hoverfly |
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| Red Kite, Milvus milvus |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper, Hesperia comma |
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| Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus |
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| Wall, Lasiommata megera |
Cissbury Ring:
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| Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus |
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| Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus |
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| Agrimony, Agrimonia eupatoria |
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| Bracket fungus |
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| view from Cissbury Ring |
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| Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus |
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| Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus |
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| very old female Common Blue |
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| Common Grass-veneer, Agriphila tristella |
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| Common Grass-veneer, Agriphila tristella |
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| Common Grass-veneer, Agriphila tristella |
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| Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus with Red Mite, Trombidium breei |
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| Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus |
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| Lebia chlorocephala |
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| Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina |
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| Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina |
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| Fairey Swordfish II |
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| Fairey Swordfish II with torpedo |
Thanks to Neil Hulme for the id of the plane.
This Swordfish was built in 1943 and served on North Atlantic convoy duty with 836 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm and starred in the film 'Sink the Bismark'. (info http://bit.ly/18zd7Jz)
The Swordfish was nicknamed Stringbag, a reference to a housewife's string shopping bag, in which things of any shape could be carried.
A Swordfish torpedo strike from HMS Ark Royal damaged the rudders of the German battleship Bismarck, preventing it from escaping to France. The planes were too slow for the fire-control predictors of the German gunners, whose shells exploded in front of the aircraft. Some Swordfish flew so low that most of the Bismarck's flak weapons were unable to depress enough to hit them.
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Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus
showing part of the upperside of the forewing |
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| Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris |
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| Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae |
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| Small White, Pieris rapae |
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| Lesser Treble-bar, Aplocera efformata |
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| Wall, Lasiommata megera |
Hi Colin,
ReplyDeleteThe biplane looks like a Fairey Swordfish. I believe these outdated kites were responsible for knocking the rudder off the Bismarck, leading to its ultimate demise.
BWs, Neil
thanks Neil, I have added info about it above.
ReplyDelete