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| Beautiful Demoiselle ♂, Calopteryx virgo |
On Friday 15th July I did my Mill Hill butterfly transect:
first Chalkhill Blue of the season, Comma, Gatekeeper 18, Green-veined White 2,
Marbled White 11, Small White 1, unidentified Whites 9, Meadow Brown 14,
Peacock, Red Admiral 11, Small Tortoiseshell, Six-spot Burnet, Light Brown
Apple Moth.
Outside the Cement Works on the A283 I found an Essex Skipper, a
Six-spot Burnet and a Crescent Plume.
At Woods Mill I watched a male Common
Darter, a female Blue-tailed Damselfly and 5 Beautiful Demoiselles (4 males, 1
female). Two of the males displayed vigorously at each other. I also found my
first Golden Argent, a small 10mm moth
that kept returning to the tip of a leaf and flashing its wings open, presumably
to attract a mate. There were caddis and mayflies on the reeds.
On Saturday I
visited the path by Littlehampton golf course again hoping to see White-letter
Hairstreaks on the brambles. I think I saw a couple but couldn’t be sure as
they flew fast and disappeared. There were Red Admirals everywhere, including a
trio in a dogfight, plus Commas, Large Whites, Large Skippers and Gatekeepers
and a Yellow Shell.
Later I visited
Woods Mill and photographed Beautiful Demoiselles again, including a mating
pair. Two males in adjacent territories kept meeting and displaying, sometimes gentle fluttering and sometimes dogfighting. I spotted a late instar Peacock larva racing across a patch of Fool’s
Water Cress by the river.
Mill Hill, July 15:
 |
| Pyramidal Orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis |
Cement Works:
 |
| Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola |
 |
| Everlasting Pea, Lathyrus latifolius |
 |
| Yellow Melilot, Melilotus officinalis |
 |
| Lucerne Bug, Adelphocoris lineolatus |
 |
| Common Restharrow, Ononis repens |
 |
| Common Toadflax, Linaria vulgaris |
 |
| Crescent Plume, Marasmarcha lunaedactyla |
 |
| Viper's Bugloss, Echium vulgare |
 |
| Six-spot Burnet |
Woods Mill, July 15:
 |
| Beautiful Demoiselle ♀, Calopteryx virgo |
 |
| Beautiful Demoiselle ♂ |
 |
| Blue-tailed Damselfly ♀, Ischnura elegans f.rufescens, Ischnura elegans f.rufescens |
 |
| Blue-tailed Damselfly ♀eating prey |
 |
| Caddisfly, Athripsodes bilineatus |
 |
| Craneflies mating, Tipula varipennis |
 |
| Dock Bug, Coreus marginatus |
 |
| tiny Dustywing, Coniopteryx species |
 |
| False Oil Beetle, Oedemera nobilis |
 |
| Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus |
 |
| Golden Argent, Argyresthia goedartella |
 |
| Golden Argent |
 |
| Golden Argent flashing wings |
 |
| Hop Trefoil, Trifolium campestre |
 |
| Mayfly, Ephemera species |
 |
| Mayfly, Ephemera species |
 |
| Mirid bug, Campyloneura virgula |
 |
| Pearl Veneer, Agriphila straminella |
 |
| Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris |
 |
| Small-flowered Crane's-bill, Geranium pusillum |
 |
| Smooth Tare, Vicia tetrasperma |
Woods Mill, July 16:
 |
| Beautiful Demoiselle ♂, Calopteryx virgo
|
 |
| Beautiful Demoiselles mating |
 |
| Beautiful Demoiselle ♀ |
 |
| Common Darter ♂, Sympetrum striolatum |
 |
| Large White, Pieris brassicae |
 |
| Peacock larva, Inachis io |
 |
| Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta |
 |
| Yellow Shell, Camptogramma bilineata |
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