Trumpington Meadows Butterfly Transect

Other than a few green stinging nettles nestled in the hedgerows, everywhere is dry and brown as in other reserves, so we were not expecting and did not find large numbers of Butterflies on our weekly transect. Small Coppers, Small Heaths, Small Whites, Brown Argus and Common Blues were the only species present in any numbers. I photographed a single Green-veined White and a Hummingbird hawkmoth egg laying plus a couple of Wasp Spiders.

 

Sharpenhoe (July 19th)

Dave, James and I spent a very enjoyable day at Sharpenhoe  photographing Chalkhill Blues,  Wasp spider etc. Although the Chalkhill Blues and Burnet Moths took up a lot of the time, it was this beautiful small moth that has the 'front slot': Oncocera semirubella, Rosy Knot-horn, popularly named the Rhubarb & Custard. It was formerly resident only in the southernmost counties of England on chalk downland and limestone cliffs but is obviously spreading!. The Lygus pratensis bug complements the moth very well in colouring  Very warm conditions!

Parched Meadows

Perfect weather for our Week 16 Butterfly transect at Trumpington Meadows yesterday lunchtime - sunny 25 degrees with gentle breeze. Lots of bees around including these two Cuckoo bees Bombus rupestris - a very large impressive orange-tailed bee (host ?Bombus lapidarius)  and Bombus campestris (host mainly Carder Bee). Butterflies looking a bit worn but still finding nectar in the sparse flower heads. Usual ID problems of distant Brown Argus and Common Blues plus quite wide ranging Small Blues. Also found an impressive Wasp Spider in the hedgerow.

Macro Session at Paxton

The sky was cloudless on Thursday morning for our macro photography session at Paxton so I decided to go for dramatic portraits and therefore  look for situations where the subject was lit against darker backgrounds (normally I would be looking for even lighting to bring out as many details as possible for identification!). The Jade Hopper is always one of my favourite subjects (except it is very small!!). There were plenty of Grasshoppers/Crickets and other Hoppers though the Wasp Spider was catching as many as it could. Close ups of  Darters and Norfolk Hawker faces gave some good macro practice as they rested on sunlit branches.

Summer Leys Spiders and Insects

 A very  enjoyable day at Summer Leys with members of the RPS Nature Group photographing the large number of Wasp Spiders with 4-Spot Orb,  Nursery Web and Garden Spiders. Trying the Migrant hawkers in flight occupied an hour or more plus a Willow Emerald and several other insects.