Marbled Whites

On Sunday (11.7.04), I took advantage of a window of opportunity and ventured up to Barnack Hills and Holes NNR. The grasslands of this disused limestone quarry site are fabulous for wildflowers and have some butterflies that are very scarce elsewhere around here – especially Chalkhill Blue and Marbled White.
It is the latter's flight period at the moment and there were loads of them on the wing when I arrived at c1pm. By 1.30pm there was not a butterfly in flight, as the air had suddenly gone cold with the threat of rain. During the warmer period, there were lots of opportunities to photograph them feeding (especially on scabious and knapweed) with their wings open. Once it was cold, the wings are folded allowing leisurely photography of the underside (despite low light).
I also managed to bump into some good back-up butterflies (including a smaller golden skipper 'workshop') and some gorgeous flowers.
The highlights are below:


Marbled White, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04.


Marbled White, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04.


Marbled White, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04. This insect seems to have some yellow bits from one flower already stuck to its proboscis.


Two Marbled Whites, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04. As the air cooled, the insects became lethargic and these two settled very close together.


Marbled White, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04. Underside shot – nice, eh?


Small Skipper, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04. Note the orangey tips to the antennae (black in Essex Skipper, see below).


Small Skipper, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04. Irresistible close-up of head.


Essex Skipper, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04. Note black-tipped antennae.


Essex Skipper, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04. Close-up of above.


Pyramidal orchid, Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04.


Broomrape – surely one of the most unpleasant names for any living thing (in the same league as Cockchafer, I always think). Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04.


After the above, have a seat on a Robin's pincushion (a gall on a rose). Barnack Hills and Holes, 11.7.04.

Cinnabar moth caterpillars

We nurture all sorts of 'weeds' (aka wildflowers) in our garden, under the belief that native plants attract more wildlife – and wildlife is what we want! One plant which I have always been rather fond of (despite having to remove masses of it from my father's horse-field as a kid) is ragwort.
And ragwort attracts Cinnabar moths to lay their eggs, and I have seen a few of the adults around the garden this year.
The caterpillars are familiar stripy beasts which have the habit of hanging around and being easy to observe, so are a fave of my five-year-old daughter and have been since she was little. Up close, they are surprisingly hairy. Here are some pix from last night (9.7.04).

Cinnabar caterpillars on ragwort, Peterborough, 9.7.04.


A closer look at one of the caterpillars.

Arty stuff...

I thought I'd snap some Greylag Geese this lunchtime (9.7.04), down at Ferry Meadows (Peterborough). But a helicopter flew over and scared the lot off. So the shot I got was of them flying off. It was frankly poor, but there's no use having poor pics hanging around, so why not have fun with them instead. So, I artied them up a bit on Photoshop and bunged them on here.

Greylags, Ferry Meadows, 9.7.04.

Weedon's Slug Theory

I have a thing about slugs. OK, so I haven't exactly been raking through every slug manual in the world, but I reckon there is one thing people just don't go on about when talking about slugs (except for me, that is).
In a nutshell:

Weedon's Slug Theory: "Slugs always have detritus on the end of their tails"

Here is a big black slug with a certain amount of yuck on its tail, but to start to believe in my theory, check it out for yourself. Next time a slug slithers your way, have a look to see if it has debris on its tail. It will, mark my words.

Big black slug (Ferry Meadows, Peterborough, 9.7.04). There is some debris there, "Look!".

Office mothing

The beauty of having a few knowledgeable friends is you can do a wee bit of wildlifing even from the office. I was just about to let a pretty little moth out of the window, when, having already caught it in a glass, I thought "why not photograph it and get it identified?". A quick snap and an e-mail to my friend Brian The Natural Stone Stone later, and the wheels of moth ID were in motion.
Brian came up with an ID of Carcina quercana, as confirmed by a quick check of UK Moths.

Carcina quercana, office in Bretton, Peterborough, 9.7.04.

Mean-looking fly

The hornet photos on my earlier post called 'Hornets' nest' have depressed me so much I feel an urge to post something relatively decent. So, have a look at this cool-looking, male scorpion fly Panorpa sp. with an inset of its upturned abdomenal tip. Aaah, that's better...

Scorpion fly Panorpa sp. Glapthorn Cow Pastures, Northants, July 2004.

Hornets' nest

At lunchtime (8.7.04), I popped over the road with Katie Bogbumper Fuller to Grimeshaw Wood, Bretton, Peterborough. We found a delicious hornets' nest in a hollow fallen log and, though I risked life and limb and a sting in the ear (nearly), these crumby photos were the best I could come up with.
OK, the Bogbumper may have better if you check out her site...
Keep watching this site, however, and I will endeavour to produce the Definitive Hornet Collection for your delectation.

Hornets (hey, they're big, fast, scary insects... too fast some may say)

Ringlet butterflies

It's very much the Ringlet season around these parts at the mo', and they are easily the most abundant butterfly on most of the sunny wooded glades. So, why not put a couple of my 'better' shots of these chocolate lovelies on my site?

Ringlet, Castor Hanglands (26.6.04).


Ringlet, Glapthorn Cow Pastures (27.6.04).

Macro fun

Here are a few of my recent macro photos, just for the fun of it. Before I became a journalist, I spent quite a few years researching the skeletons of invertebrates using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and also did a fair amount of optical microscope stuff in my time. The macro lens on my Nikon Coolpix 4500 almost fulfils the same function - opening up a world of detail that you just don't see with your naked eye.


This harvestman (at Bedford Purlieus this lunchtime; 5.7.04) seems to have picked up a mite parasite (or something equally gruesome).


Up close you can see much more of the structure of the harvestman (including its diddy eyes), though the red 'mite' becomes not much clearer.


This froghopper was sitting on the car of my friend Brian Stone (see The Natural Stone website, linked on the column on the right). Brian kindly gave me a lift to Bedford Purlieus this lunchtime (where we gorged ourselves on Purple Hairstreaks, White-letter Haristreaks and the odd White Admiral – see my earlier post from 3.7.04).


Another example of the microscopic qualities of the macro setting. Check out this neat Large Skipper.


Now check out the hairy legs on the same beast.

Glow-worms

On saturday night, I ventured out to Castor Hanglands, Cambs, not far from Peterborough. Glow-worms were my target, and there were several shining merrily low in the grass – within yards of the parking area. Below are photos of one beast, with the glow on the left (on an 8s exposure) and flashed on the right (a leaf out of the book of my friend Steve Dudley, the Toadsnatcher [see link on right]).
I had a crafty plan to use the 'glow' from my mobile phone to illuminate a creature for an intermediate shot – but instead I succeeded in phoning up my sister in the middle of the night without realising (though she later texted to ask what was going on, because there were "strange noises" coming from my mobile).


Glow from a glow-worm, plus the creature itself hanging over grass in a rather loose and limp way (3.7.04, 11pm).

Greater Sand Plover, Snettisham

My friend and colleague Katie Fuller kindly gave me a lift up to Snettisham, Norfolk (Sun, 4.7.04) to twitch a Greater Sand Plover that had been seen there. After an initial stuttering start (wasting an hour going the wrong way), we finally met the massed crowds and pursued the plover up the beach ahead of the rapidly-rising tide.
Lovely bird, a bit bigger than a Ringed Plover with a longer heavier bill and lanky gait.
Here are some of my digiscoping efforts (it was distant and cloudy...).

Greater Sand Plover, Snettisham (4.7.04).

White Admirals

I took another quick trip out to Bedford Purlieus today (Sat 3.7.04). Despite strong winds and showery weather, there were plenty of butterflies on the wing. Prominent among these, and no more than 100m from the parking spot (some much closer) were several White Admirals. Here are photos of three individuals, identifiable by the various chunks taken out of their wings.
Also here, I found at least one White-letter Hairstreak (excuse the quality of the digiscoped image), plus some great back-up insects including Comma butterfly, Common Blue Damselfly and the longhorn beetle Strangalia maculata.


White Admiral.


The same White Admiral.


A partially-damaged White Admiral.


And another, that has had some serious chunks taken from its wings.


Dodgy digiscoped White-letter Hairstreak.


Comma.


Female (blue form) Common Blue Damselfly.


Good old Strangalia maculata, sharing bramble pollen with some pollen beetles.

Caterpillar ID?

I found this caterpillar last night (2.7.04) outside the office in Peterborough. Can anyone put a name to it?

Macro gallery

Here are some of my favourite macro photos to date (from the first few weeks of camera ownership). I hope you like them.


Freshly-emerged Broad-bodied Chaser (plus exuviae), Picos de Europa, Spain (June 2004).


Detail of above.


Midwife Toad, Picos de Europa, Spain (June 2004).


Mating Graphosoma italicum, an abundant shield bug on umbellifers (not British), Picos de Europa, Spain (June 2004).


Unidentified rove beetle (any clues?), Picos de Europa, Spain (June 2004).


Unidentified mating beetles (any ideas?), Picos de Europa, Spain (June 2004).


Fly Orchid, Picos de Europa, Spain (June 2004).


Bee Orchid, King's Dyke Nature Reserve, near Peterborough (June 2004).

Digiscoping: Lapwings

I have always loved Lapwings. We were brought up largely as sheltered suburbanites on the edge of Surrey downland. So, I didn't see any until I travelled with my sister Alison and father Barry by car up to Scotland, when I was about 9. My brothers Chris and Graham, meanwhile, travelled up at the same time by train, and when they arrived they had excited tales of "black-and-white birds of prey – flocks of them!" on the way (it was the broad wings that did it).
They are such unique birds in our avifauna and, though common, are superbly iridescent, characterful, crested beauties with a wonderful tumbling flight and magical electronic voices.
So, I fancied getting some images, and these are the best I have come up with so far. The single birds are at Grummit's Scrape, Baston and Langtoft, Lincs and the group with flies at Welland Bank pits, also Lincs. All at the end of June.

Butterflies at Bedford Purlieus

This lunchtime (1.7.04) I went (with Brian Stone and Katie Fuller) for a lunchtime dash up to Bedford Purlieus, an excellent ancient woodland near to Peterborough, which holds some great butterflies. Out targets were White Letter Hairstreaks (failed) and White Admiral (found one, too high to photograph). Here are a couple of easier-to-photograph species from the walk, plus a Small Tortoiseshell from 29.6.04 at Glapthorn Cow Pastures.

Speckled Wood (rather worn individual)


Meadow Brown


Small Tortoiseshell