Saturday 2 July 2016

Heath Tigers and a Heather Groundling

Heath Tiger Beetle, Cicindela sylvatica
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

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