Having previously only seen one Common Blue before today I was resigned to the prospect of another poor season for these lovely creatures. We went out this morning in the sun and headed for the Clopton Park side of the hills. The intention was to try to get some pics of Treecreepers. These are small birds and can be seen mouse-like working their way over the bark in search of food. They don't really stay still for long so seeing them isn't a problem. Photographing them is.
Anyway, we headed up the hill and we eventually stopped on one of the slopes facing the town and sat in the short grass amongst the Woolley Thistles enjoying the peace and the sunshine. That's where first one, then two and then three Common Blue butterflies settled on vetch quite close. There was one male and two females.
Above, female Common Blue. She doesn't have as much blue as the male (below) but more oranges and browns particularly on the upper side of the wings. I notice in the image that she has her tail curved down and on to what looks like Birds Foot trefoil. That's what she lays her eggs on and possibly that is what she was doing.
The male has that wonderful blue colour fringed with white on the upper wings.
That's Katie four dogs and me. What a lucky find this beautiful moth was. It was in the grass just in front of the woods adjacent to the top Rowley Field. It was very dozy and went easily onto my arm. After a few snaps I put it on a post by the woods from where it would hopefully find a safe place to see out the day.
The larvae of this moth do lots of damage as they burrow into trees. I suspect the woodpeckers love them though.
It's very good for bumblebees up the Welcombe Hills at the moment. That's despite the rain. In the periods between the cloudbursts the bumblebees, ever industrious, return to the thistles and brambles. Mostly these creatures are fairly quiet but now and again loud buzzing announces the arrival of a beastie. On this particular occasion the beastie was a Red-tailed cuckoo bumblebee and a whopper it was too. When it settled on Woolly Thistle flowers it showed its beauty as well as its size. As you can see from the pictures I took the shiny black body was topped by a bright red tail.
Cuckoo bumblebees are not 'true' bumblebees. They tend to mimic the colours of the true bumblebees who's nests they lay their eggs in but they don't collect pollen so have hairy back legs and they tend to have opaque wings. There are just 6 species of Cuckoo Bumblebee seen in this country.
True bumblebees have Queens and Workers who do collect pollen and so have bare patches on their hind legs called 'pollen baskets'. The male of the bumblebee though does not collect pollen but has shorter hairs on these legs than the Cuckoo bumblebee.
All that makes bumblebee identification difficult in the field.
That's why I started taking pictures of bees.
If you're interested in bumblebee identification then go to Bumblebee Conservation where there is an excellent guide including a short video to help.
It was sunny again today so I went out with the dogs with no little anticipation of seeing all the butterflies and bees we missed on yesterday's sodden nature walk. Well, this is what we could have seen. There's a little bit of information for each photograph but I'll let the images speak for themselves. I'm thinking of doing another walk next Sunday, 2nd August and if the sun shines there's a good chance of seeing all these and perhaps more. Post a message up and we'll see if there's much interest.
The Fritillary didn't disappoint. It's the same butterfly that I first spotted the other day - the chunk missing from the wing tells me that. This pic shows the length of the butterfly tongue.
The Comma. This image helps explain why it's called the Comma - on the underside of the wing close to the body on the right as we look at it is a white mark - just like the punctuation mark.
(Left and right) the Meadow Brown. Plenty of these still about. It's probably the most common butterfly .
(Left) the Green-veined White. Plenty of the Whites about. Often seen dancing in two and threes.
(Below) Large White. This one's caterpillars eat your cabbages...
(Above)
The Gatekeeper.
My Collins Gem guide to insects says this is a Flesh Fly. Look at the size of those feet!
I have to do some work - the day job. That means no posting of the bumblebee pics in this blog. Maybe later.
Here's a good spot this morning . It looks like a Silver-Washed Fritillary and it was flying around the area near the Reservoir up the Welcombe Hills. I'd just been wondering whether or not to take a photograph of a Comma butterfly when I noticed this beauty glide ahead. At first I thought it was another Comma but its gliding made me think otherwise. This one settled some 12 feet away and the slightly damaged rear wing at the top of the picture did from that distance make me think it was a Comma. Unfortunately it soon glided away and out of sight.
To positively identify the type of Fritillary you really need to see the underside but it wasn't obliging today. It wasn't until I got home and was able to look at the images on my computer that the identity could be confirmed.
I've posted some video of Fritillaries in Snitterfield Bushes where they are establish and the woodland is managed to make them successful. This is the first one I've seen here though.
A good spot!
Well, the Gatekeepers are out in force so it was easy to get a snap of the upper side of this neat little butterfly. It's thought the name 'Gatekeeper' comes from the many sightings near gates. Makes sense I suppose as you'll find it in the hedgerows on bramble.
The Comma is a remarkable butterfly. It overwinters attached to a twig and resembles a dead leaf.
It appears to be a good year for our common butterflies so far. The Common Blue though seems to be slow to recover from recent wet springs.
If you are thinking of joining me on the nature walk next weekend then butterflies and bumble bees will be on the agenda. By then the Woolley Thistles will be in flower. They are magnets for insects.
Also the plan is to find owl pellets and pull them apart to find what the owls ate and we'll check out the dead mens' toenails in the woods…. I can't wait.
The Small and Large White butterflies are the only butterflies in this country with official 'pest' status. So, not all butterflies are equal then. The problem with them is the damage their caterpillars do to our brassicas - hence the common name of Cabbage White.
The Green-veined White feeds on Hedge Garlic so isn't a pest. It's distinguished by the highlighted veins on the underside.
The Gatekeeper butterfly seems to be about. The underside is not dissimilar to some of the other Browns but the two white dots in the black spot and the white flecks are a giveaway. I'm confident of photographing the upper side soon and you will see what an attractive little butterfly it is.
