Marbled Whites explode and a White-barred Twist shows

Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus

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On Wednesday I did my Mill Hill butterfly transect and was amazed by the number of Marbled Whites on the wing, the largest number I have recorded since I started the survey in 2011. There were few Meadow Browns. This is the reverse of the usual ratio for these two butterflies: Comma 1, Marbled Whites 37, Meadow Brown 8, Small Heath 3, Small Tortoiseshell 3. I watched a Comma taking salts from an ancient canine dropping.

  I then visited Southwater Woods where I saw my first White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillaries of the year. I watched a micro moth fly up and then dive into the leaf litter beneath the plant border beside the path. I was able to watch it crawling among the leaf litter as it had a prominent white band I could see in the darkness of that habitat. My one clear photo of it enabled me to identify it as a rarely recorded White-barred Twist (Olindia schumacherana). I believe it was a female egg laying.

Orchid, Oncidium maculatum

This pretty little orchid had dozens of flowers when I bought it last year. It has been bare since then but recently produced two flowers with the promise of more to come.

Mill Hill:

7-spot Ladybird, pupa, Coccinella 7-punctata

Comma taking salts, Polygonia c-album

Common Froghopper, Philaenus spumarius

Garden Grass-veneer, Chrysoteuchia culmella

Musk Thistle, Carduus nutans

 Southwater Woods:

Common Nettle-tap, Anthophila fabriciana

Cucumber Green Spider, Araniella cucurbitina

Green-veined White, Pieris napi

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Tufted vetch, Vicia cracca

White-barred Twist, Olindia schumacherana