I have not posted a blog for a couple of months due to the good weather keeping me out in the field a lot. The recent sporting events have kept me glued to the TV instead of the computer so lots of pics to be posted sometime...
On Tuesday I checked the Everlasting Pea at Beeding Cement Works but saw no sign of Long-tailed Blues which should soon be coming over the channel in numbers. The first was seen in Hassocks on July 23rd. Common Blues were mating on the Everlasting Pea.
Fascinating articles about the Long-tailed Blue in Sussex by Mark Colvin can be seen here:
Long-tailed Blue in Sussex - A Brief History
I then headed to Knepp where I met David Cook who pointed me in the right direction for Brown Hairstreaks. I met Neil Hulme doing a Brown Hairstreak count and he took me on a tour of sites where I saw 9 males and a female plus a Purple Hairstreak, all nectaring on thistle.
Other butterflies seen: Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Gatekeepers, Green-veined Whites, Brimstone, Ringlets, Meadow Browns including one with a white hind underwing. Moths seen: Common Purple and Gold, Chequered Pearl and a Blood-vein.
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| Common Blues mating on Everlasting Pea, Polyommatus icarus |
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| Everlasting Pea, where the Long-tailed Blue likes to lay its eggs |
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| Brown Hairstreak ♀, Thecla betulae |
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| Brown Hairstreak ♂ |
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| Brown Hairstreak ♂ |
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| Chequered Pearl, Evergestis pallidata |
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| Comma, Polygonia c-album |
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| Comma |
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| mushroom with juvenile Common Frog, Rana temporaria |
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| juvenile Common Frog |
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| Common Purple and Gold, Pyrausta purpuralis |
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| Earthstar type fungus under Oak |
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| Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus |
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| Gatekeeper ♀ |
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| Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina ab. with whitish hind-wing, very pronounced in flight |
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| tiny Mirid bug, Liocoris tripustulatus |
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| Purple Hairstreak, Neozephyrus quercus |
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| Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta ab. bialbata |
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| Blood-vein, Timandra comae |
