Sunday 21 August 2011

Four sites in one day

The Safari apologises to those who might have twigged we've been doing alphabetical blog titles and doubled up on 'D' and forgot about 'E'...so no-one did; not to worry...

No commentary today - running out of time so just IDs

A rather tatty female Common Blue at the nature reserve early this morning, not sure how she managed to get airborne...or does she just go round in circles?


Wild Carrot with the central darker (= not white) flower often it's a lot darker than this.


Think this is Field Bindweed, the closed bud was quite pink but the pics didn't come out. As you can see form our finger-tip it's not a big flower


A Tenthredo sp wasp thingy on Wild Carrot


Cinnabar moth caterpillar - is it just us or do they seem scarcer than normal this season?


As ever Frank found a puddle to cool off in - it wasn't sunny enough to properly census the butterflies this arvo but it was quite warm.


At a site we've found Great Crested Newts in previously we could only find this newt sp skeleton today - We know someone who'll be keen to collect yhis to add to his skull collection.


The butterfly 'survey' turned up only one worn Gatekeeper, would have been more had the sun been out.


Haresfoot Clover is one of our favourite plants but we couldn't find any Hop Trefoil on the nature reserve.


Meadow Cranesbill is getting towards the end of its season, still a bonny plant and great for bumble bees.


Only two Small Tortoiseshells were found, unlike the Gatekeeper and the Common Blue these were pristine.


A different Tenthredo sp again on Wild Carrot.


Speckled Woods were the most numerous butterfly found this arvo, all at the Patch 1 Butterfly Zone, but the sun had come out by then and it is very sheltered.


Soapwort, a double flowered variety but it smells divine and seems to spread OK.


Toad.


Toadflax.

Hope you enjoyed today's selection...and not a bird in sight!

Where to next? Back to the patches.

In the meantime let us know how far into your outback you got today.

2 comments:

cliff said...

She's not much of a looker your Common Blue, I bet she'll struggle finding a mate, well a discerning one anyway, although she probably gets better by the pint.

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

She wasn't doing to bad in the sutor department Cliff but he wouldn't sit still...

Cheers

D