Heath Tigers and a Heather Groundling

Heath Tiger Beetle, Cicindela sylvatica

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On Thursday 30th June I headed to Iping Common to search for the Heath Tiger Beetle. This has been a target since hearing Graeme Lyons fascinating account of the reintroduction of this UK rarity by Sussex Wildlife Trust. I was fortunate to see two. The first flew up in front of me and I saw its metallic blue sheen in flight before it dived into the heather a few meters away. The second scuttled across in front of me on one of the cleared areas of heather with one years growth and plenty of soil showing. It obligingly allowed some photos to be taken before flying off and diving into the heather. 
  In addition I saw two Green Tiger Beetles. I also found my first Heather Groundling moth, a heathland specialist, plus Grey Gorse Piercer, Garden Grass-veneer and Meadow Grey. There were plenty of Silver-studded Blues, male and female, including a mating pair. I found two species of the insectivorous Sundews and another heathland specialist, the Mottled Bee-fly. 
  Our four local fox cubs are thriving and we saw them playing while mum enjoyed a rest nearby.

Bell Heather, Erica cinerea

Bell Heather

Bell Heather

Birch Brittlegill, Russula betularum

Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara

Common Mouse-Ear, Cerastium fontanum

Common Sundew, Drosera rotundifolia

Common Sundew flowers

Common Sundew

Common Sundew

Common Sundews

unidentified eggshell approx 7cm long

Four-spotted Chaser, Libellula quadrimaculata

Garden Grass-veneer, Chrysoteuchia culmella

Grass bug nymph, Leptopterna species

Grey Gorse Piercer, Cydia ulicetana

Green Tiger Beetle, Cicindela campestris

Heath Tiger Beetle, Cicindela sylvatica

Heath Tiger Beetle

Heather Groundling, Neofaculta ericetella

Heather Groundling

Honeysuckle, Lonicera caprifolium

Honeysuckle

Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa

Iping Common

Juniper Haircap, Polytrichum juniperinum

Lichen, Cladonia polydactyla

Meadow Grey, Scoparia pyralella

Mottled Bee-fly, Thyridanthrax fenestratus

Mottled Bee-fly

Oblong-leaved Sundew, Drosera intermedia 

Oblong-leaved Sundew

Oblong-leaved Sundew

Oblong-leaved Sundew with fly

Roe Deer tracks

Silver-studded Blue ♀, Plebejus argus

Silver-studded Blue ♀

Silver-studded Blue ♀

Silver-studded Blue ♂

Silver-studded Blue ♂

Silver-studded Blue ♂

Silver-studded Blue ♂

Tawny Grisette, Amanita fulva

Tawny Grisette

Two-spotted Grass Bug, Stenotus binotatus

Wood Melick, Melica uniflora

Red Fox cubs, Vulpes vulpes