Magpie courtship, meconium and micro moths

Primroses and Cowslips at Heyshott

to view a gallery  with more photos, click here

On Tuesday I visited Rewell Wood and found a Grizzled Skipper in the patch of Wild Strawberry where I saw them last year. A lizard obliged by staying still for a photo, a rare occurrence.

  On Wednesday afternoon a pair of Magpies attracted my attention outside our window by making loud noises. After seeing them mating I grabbed my camera and took some courtship shots, after which the lady developed a headache.

 I did my Mill Hill butterfly transect on Thursday and saw my first Dingy Skipper at the site. While I was photographing one it ejected pink meconium onto the leaf below it.

Meconium is the fluid that butterflies and moths expel after they leave the chrysalis. It is a metabolic waste product from the pupal stage that is expelled through the anal opening of the newly emerged adult butterfly. There is an authoritative account here: http://lepidopteraresearchfoundation.org/journals/20/PDF20/20-097.pdf

  
I spotted the underside of a dead leaf and was struck by its similarity to the underside of a Brimstone hind wing. I have previously noted the similarity of the Brimstone’s colour and shape to the Ivy that a male had roosted in for a day last year. The camouflage of butterflies is amazing.

  On Friday I visited Heyshott escarpment and didn’t see a single butterfly in spite of the temperature warming up in the afternoon. Plenty of Primroses and Cowslips are ready for the Duke of Burgundy to lay its eggs on soon. On the way back I checked out a Rewell Wood site and found several micro moths.

Brimstones and leaf

Rewell Wood Tuesday:

Grey Gorse Piercer, Cydia ulicetana

Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara

Dark-edged Bee-fly, Bombylius major

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae on Wild Strawberry

Grizzled Skipper on Wood Violet

Wood Violet, Viola riviniana

Magpie courtship:

Magpie, Pica pica

Mill Hill:

Dingy Skipper and meconium, Erynnis tages

Dingy Skipper meconium

Dingy Skipper and meconium

Dingy Skipper meconium

Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages

pollen beetle, Meligethes aeneus on Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa

snail, Oxychilus species

STAMPE SV4 G-AZCB

Wood Violet, Viola riviniana

Heyshott escarpment:

Cowslip, Primula veris 

Cuckoo Flower, Cardamine pratensis and Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum

Early Purple Orchid, Orchis mascula

Early Purple Orchid

Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum

Heyshott escarpment 

Forget-me-not Myostis species

Pied Hoverfly, Scaeva pyrastri

pollen beetle, Meligethes aeneus

Primroses and Cowslips 

Primroses

white Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Wild Strawberry, Fragaria vesca

Wood Violet, Viola riviniana

Wood Violets, Viola riviniana

Cowslip, Primula veris

Rewell Wood:

Dark Bush Cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera

Dotted Brown Lacewing, Hemerobius micans

Hemp-agrimony Plume, Adaina microdactyla 

Small Purple and Gold, Pyrausta aurata

Small Purple and Gold

Rewell Wood Saturday:

Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Dark Bush Cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera

Spear-winged fly, Lonchoptera species

fly - id needed

fly - id needed

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae

14-spot Ladybird, Propylea 14-punctata

Sweat Bee, Lasioglossum species

Vetch Piercer in habitat, about 1cm long

Vetch Piercer, Grapholita jungiella

Vetch Piercer

Yellow Pimpernel, Lysimachia nemorum

Yellow-legged Mining Bee, Andrena flavipes