Common Blue Butterflies at Landguard, Felixstowe

 

We seem to have had a very breezy, and at times blustery, summer here in our corner of the east coast. Small butterflies, like the blues, tend to hide away in the long grass and are not easy to see. If they brave the elements by clinging to Viper's Bugloss, Ragwort or grass seedheads, they sway about and can be very difficult to photograph!  

But I love blue butterflies (which always bring to mind 'Blue-Butterfly Day', Robert Frost's springtime poem), and am always glad when I encounter them. The photographs in this post were taken this last weekend on the nature reserve at Landguard, which nestles between the North Sea and the container port of Felixstowe. We think we also saw one or two Brown Argus; these insects are not easy to distinguish from Common Blue females, and in such windy conditions, it was hard to be sure. However, I think the butterflies in these photos are all Common Blue. 

 

Landguard Nature Reserve again... and a new Moth

We returned to the Landguard Nature Reserve yesterday afternoon and were delighted to see a new moth, which we think is probably a Treble-bar. I am waiting for the folk on iSpot to come to my aid over the ID.

We noticed this bird hopping about on its orange legs on one of the groynes. It seems to be a Turnstone (well, two of us think this is what it is), but perhaps its plumage is in an in-between stage. 

It was wonderful to be back on the water's edge...

...though there was a bit of sea fret over Felixstowe beyond the person in the distance.

Wonderful pebbles!

Turning inland a little, I noticed this plant, which I think may be Black Nightshade.

Landguard holds a very strategic position, and there are a number of grim reminders of past conflict, like this WW2 bunker pill box.

Speaking of happier things, we were delighted to see Common Blue butterflies in reasonable numbers. They were mainly low down in the grass, which made photography a challenge!

This one is on a stem of what I assume is Rest harrow. 

We also saw a couple of Brown Argus butterflies. The spot on the wing is quite marked and the abdomen quite long so I think this is the right ID.

Outside the fenced-in areas on the reserve there were lots of signs of rabbit activity... and we finally got to see two of the burrow-makers!

 

The Appeal of the Dandelion

Peacock butterfly

Inspired by Crafty Green Poet's post on the Dandelion Appreciation Society roughly three weeks ago, I decided to photograph the insects in our garden that perched on these vibrant flowers. All the images below have been taken since the start of May. I don't know what all the insects are yet; but while I try to discover, I hope to continue to keep an an eye out for more, and will add them when I find them. I am not always good at distinguishing a Dandelion from a similar species, so it would be good to be able to identify at least some of the 240 species we have in the UK.

Small White butterfly

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Yesterday morning's butterfly, a Common Blue, I think. I have placed this photo below the line because I have a hunch the host plant is not a Dandelion. Do enlighten me!

Common Blue butterfly, Shield bug and 14-spot Ladybird

I haven't ventured further than the garden today, but I have enjoyed seeing the variety of insects that are suddenly beginning to emerge after the long lean months of winter.

I love blue butterflies: this Common Blue reminds me of Robert Frost's 'Blue-Butterfly Day' poem. 

I wonder if it has been a particularly good year for Shield bugs (or Stink bugs) in your locality. I seem to have seen more than usual in the garden, including the two in the photos below . 

The large triangle on the back is called a scutellam

And finally, just when I was heading back indoors, I noticed a small yellow insect on a nettle - my first 14-spot Ladybird (Propylea 14-punctata) of 2018. I'm sorry it isn't a better photo, but I had no wish to get stung!

The 14-spot feeds on aphids and is a welcome addition to the fauna in our garden. Here in the UK our only other yellow Ladybird has 22 spots, and they are much more like spots than these rectangular blotches. 

Wicken Fen Nature Reserve ~ Common Lizards, Dragonflies, Butterflies and More

We were just finishing our lunch in the grassy Wicken Fen car park and picnic area (National Trust) on Saturday when David noticed that this grasshopper was also eating its midday meal. 

It was an indifferent day weatherwise, with rare bursts of sunshine in between grey cloud. I was surprised to see so many tiny Common Lizards - some smaller than my little finger - on the edge of the boardwalk. There must have been about thirty, but we weren't actually counting. I expect some had just been born. The photos that appear below were taken with a zoom lens. Common Lizards are protected here in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to kill, injure or sell them. 

 I only noticed these head markings (below) for the first time when I uploaded my photographs.

It looks as though the lizard below had lost the end part of its tail ...

This next lizard (below) had a long tail, but there was a particularly scaly patch or fracture plane towards the end where perhaps the tail had re-grown. I don't know whether this applies to all species of lizard, but when a lizard sheds part of its tail in a bid to escape a predator, the lost section moves about for a while, distracting the hunter, thereby giving the lizard time to escape. The ability to a shed (and re-grow) the tail is called 'autonomy'. Re-grown sections of tail have cartilage rather than bone and cannot be shed in the same way. The mere threat of predation can cause sufficient alarm in the creature to trigger tail loss. 

The lizard in the photo below clung to the edge of the boardwalk ... Once again, the photo was taken with my zoom lens.

Ticks on lizards are rarely seen with the naked eye, but they often show up in photographs. Unlike the lizards I have occasionally spotted on Dunwich Heath, where there are animals grazing nearby and swathes of heather and bracken, the Wicken Fen lizards in my photographs do not appear to have ticks.

Much to my delight in this year when I have seen few ladybirds, we noticed two native 7-spots ...

I have added these to the UK Ladybird Survey.

Unfortunately we also noticed this Harlequin ... The thumb is to give a rough sense of scale.

We thoroughly enjoyed the chance to learn about some of the butterflies on the reserve, thanks to the knowledge and enthusiasm of Alison, a NT volunteer who leads butterfly walks.

We failed to see any Skippers this time, but we noticed a few Small Tortoiseshells ...

 ... and quite a number of Common Blues. These are exquisite little creatures.

...

I was keen to photograph a male and female Common Blue together, but had difficulty knowing where to focus the camera ...

 We spotted a couple of Brown Argus ...

 ... and Speckled Woods.

We are now moving on to the insects that I find hard to identify with accuracy! Please leave a comment if you spot a mistake or can help with identification. There were good numbers of Hoverfly ...

I think the one above may be the Striped hoverfly (Syrphidae).

To be identified ... slightly different from the one above, perhaps a Sunfly?

The breezy conditions probably accounted for the fact that there were few dragonfly on the wing. However, we found a few in the more sheltered spots. Here is a (?young) Common Darter ...

... and another.

I think this may be a male Ruddy Darter ... There seems to be a red tinge to the pterostigma.

There were several spiders - my photos are as yet unidentified. Do let me know if you recognise these arachnids!

The creature below seems to be a Short-winged Conehead (Conocephalus dorsalis), which is a species of Bush Cricket.

The photo below shows the length of the antennae! 

I am guessing that this is Roesel's Bush Cricket from the yellow markings ...

There were plenty of House Sparrows around the visitors' centre, but we saw surprisingly few birds on this occasion. We even failed to see a Marsh Harrier. However, the abundant insect life made up for any shortcomings on the avian front.

You may feel miles from nowhere (and indeed the nearest hostelry is called the Five Miles From Anywhere No Hurry Inn), but you know for sure that you are on a nature reserve when you come across a reed with its own number! 

There was one last surprise in store when we got back to the car ... I particularly love the pattern made by the creature's shadow! 

Is this a Speckled Bush Cricket? I'm not sure ...