2nd June 2021: #30DaysWild, Day 2

 

 

I have three garden sightings to report so far today (and a fourth, though I was not the one to see it).

[1] My first Small Copper of the year, which you see above.

[2] A bee flying in and out of one of our insect houses, despite the ant invasion. I failed to photograph the bee, though you can see the ants making their presence felt in the photo below, taken a few days ago. I hope the bee will prove to be a Leaf-cutter, which is what we had last year. 

[3] The blackbirds were making loud (?alarm) calls last night at dusk. We failed to see evidence of a magpie, jay or cat ... but this morning Star the female was perching in front of a rotund and fluffy semi-fledgling. No wonder Star has been such an active hunter-gatherer recently. 

... and ...

[4] from David, the first 2021 sighting of a Red Damselfly in the garden.  

 

Hard to tell if there are signs yet of leaf or bee!

 

Ant invasion!

I wonder what you have been doing or finding for Day 2 of #30DaysWild ...

 

Grayling and other Insects on Sutton Heath (near Sutton Hoo)

Grayling, Sutton Heath, this afternoon

We have been exploring what for us is a new corner of Suffolk this weekend. We know the Sutton Hoo site pretty well, but had never discovered the lie of the land at nearby Sutton Heath ... until yesterday. We liked what we found so much that we returned this afternoon and were treated to a remarkable aerial display by Grayling butterflies. 

The Grayling is not a butterfly we see very often at all; and in this year of C-19, I had begun to think that, along with other wild things such as bluebells, tadpoles and demoiselles, it was going to be just one more species that would have to wait for a future year. How wrong I was. But I had almost forgotten just how camouflaged these Graylings can be when they are not on the wing against a blue sky.

When you visit a new place, I always find it helpful when there is a ready made guide. This information board may have been a bit faded, but it told us about Nightjars, Adders and about the different kinds of heather that one might encounter on this site in the Suffolk Sandlings.

We followed the marked-out trail and were soon heading into the forest, where we saw conifers, rowan, oak trees, chestnut, silver birch and holly.

After a short time we found ourselves in dappled sunlight, and began to wonder if the forest was about to give way.

Having seen an Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar near our home on Friday, we checked the Rosebay Willowherb carefully, but failed to see this distinctive larva on the heath.

We came across a Buddleia, presumably a self-seeded one, in a clearing with benches, and there beside it was this Red Admiral.

This grasshopper was spotted in the same place, hopping about on these dead oak leaves.

The butterfly in the photo below is a Small Heath, a species we see not infrequently in this part of the world. It is very small.

I mentioned above that Rowan was one of the species of tree we noticed.

The view below gives an impression of this mixed habitat, with heather giving way to bracken, which in turn gives way to more heather and bracken before you reach a stand of silver birch. There is also a large conifer, and what looks like an oak in the foreground.

These may not be the Scottish moors, but we can't really complain, can we?

We were keeping a sharp eye out for more Grayling butterflies when we noticed this sand wasp, possibly the Red-banded Sand Wasp. We see these from time to time, but had not seen one for ages.

I'm not quite sure what it was doing on this bit of dead vegetation...

I particularly like the way in which the Grayling in the photo below barely shows up beside the pine cone. In a recent post I featured the Spider Wasp, with its unmissable yellow stripes. How strange that that particular insect should protect itself by mimicking a very visible wasp while this butterfly should use camouflage. 

Look for the legs in the photo below...

The undergrowth here on the sandy heath is made up of dead bracken, old acorns, bits of bark and old stalks.

In total contrast, this tiny caterpillar could hardly be missed! Is it a species of (?pine) sawfly?

We noticed two snails (or shells) in close proximity to one another.

It was a joy to watch the butterflies in a little glade. We had not seen Small Coppers (below) for some weeks.

This is certainly a place we are glad to have found. And it feels good to add the Grayling to my list of butterflies seen in this strange year. 

Small Copper Butterfly

I just missed the chance of trying to identify a blue damselfly in the garden on Saturday. David saw it on the Ceanothus and called me. Sadly it flew over the fence as I drew near. But it was an unusual first-damselfly-sighting of the year for me as my first garden ones have almost always been red.

I went back inside, and seconds later noticed a vibrant orange speck against the rusty colour of a dead dock plant. By the time I had my camera to hand, the 'speck' had moved. I caught up with it and was thrilled to find it was a Small Copper, and my earliest homepatch sighting of one of these little amber gems to date. I shall add it to my Butterfly Conservation Garden Survey list.

And please don't forget, it would be terrific if some of you would have a go at my (butterfly) Picture Challenge for a 5-line poem here on my lockdown blog, The Glow of Emerald Light. Challenge 1 closes later this coming week...

Dunwich Heath Again - Do You Recognise This Caterpillar?

There were few butterflies about on Dunwich Heath last Sunday afternoon but, most obligingly, this Small Copper perched for a while near our favourite seat. I have been wondering about the plant: do you think it is Heath Speedwell? It was definitely more pink than blue to my eyes, though there could be a touch of mauve in there somewhere. The area comprised dry sandy heathland, so the Pink Water Speedwell seems an unlikely alternative. 

While I was looking for butterflies in the heather, David noticed a tiny 'snake' (well, a caterpillar) in the grass by his feet. I have posted these pictures on iSpot, but do let me know if you recognise it. It couldn't be a Grayling larva, could it? I have seen the adult butterflies in this area.

It made me wonder why some lepidopteran larvae have sideways stripes (e.g. the Cinnabar moth with its black and orange bands and the Swallowtail butterfly with its segments of green, black and amber) while others (e.g. the Shoulder-striped Clover moth) have lengthways ones. The Striped Hawkmoth caterpillar seems to have lines going in both directions! These linear markings must be to do with camouflage and particular habitats.  

And speaking of camouflage, this moth below, blended in so beautifully with its sandy environment that I would have missed it all together if it had not fluttered its wings. Doesn't it blend perfectly with the bits of twig? After a while it flew along the side of the heather and gorse, and was equally well hidden. I'm guessing it is a Common Heath (too pale and indistinct for a Lattice Heath?), but again I have posted it on iSpot.

We ended our walk with a pot of Earl Grey in our favourite cafe in Dunwich. David had a slice of lemon curd cake and I chose the coffee and walnut. I'm afraid we were hungry and gobbled them up before I thought to take a photo!

For more on wing colour, pattern and iridescence you might find this article from Exeter University of interest. I am always fascinated by iridescence.

Small Butterflies at Sutton Hoo (and a Holly Blue in the Garden)

There were a few butterflies fluttering about at Sutton Hoo, but not in the numbers we had hoped to see. We watched a couple of skittish Speckled Woods, but they didn't pause for the camera. However, Small Coppers always put on a good show despite their tiny size, and there were several about, some of them flying in pairs.  

There were no tours round the royal burial mounds, which surprised us on a sunny afternoon, but it was lovely to see the trees back in leaf and blossom. 

We had a good view of Woodbridge over the river Deben. You can see all the dandelion clocks in the foreground. 

The soil at Sutton Hoo is sandy, and this suits a butterfly that is even smaller, I believe, than the Small Copper, namely the Small Heath. We noticed a few of these exquisite creatures. In some ways the Small Heath resembles the Gatekeeper, but it is much smaller and has one white spot on each forewing instead of a pair. 

The Small Copper below looked rather ragged, but perhaps most of the 'marks' are grains of sand as I suspect the adult butterfly had only recently emerged. 

 It was a joy to hear and watch a couple of Skylarks.

*

21 May 2018

Having enjoyed sightings of the Small Copper and Small Heath at NT Sutton Hoo, it was lovely to find a Holly Blue in our own garden - and one that actually stopped to perch for a few seconds.  

If you are in the UK, you might like to vote for your iconic insect on the BugLife site here. I was torn between two in the England list!

Kestrel and Small Copper Butterfly at Dunwich Heath

Despite a grey evening in Aldeburgh on Saturday, we had lovely weather over the weekend. We had hardly stepped on to the heath before we noticed this Kestrel. We often see one here so it was not a surprising sighting, but these birds always stop me in my tracks and make me think of The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

I was really hoping to see butterflies, but perhaps the nearby bank of cloud was keeping the temperatures down just a bit too much.

However, I keep a sharp eye open (and a sharp ear in case we heard the scuttle of a lizard), and was rewarded with this beautiful Small Copper, perching on a pile of dead bracken, twigs and leaves. 

There did not appear to many people about, but first appearances can be deceptive. The sound of voices drew nearer and a group of about forty walkers hurried past.

I apologise for the quality of this next record shot. But you will just be able to make out the Whitethroat who was singing away near the coastguard cottages,

... just across the road from this little patch of Thrift.

Clumps of Sea Kale were colonising the beach below.

Dunwich Heath and Minsmere, which adjoins the heath, are home to a number of sand-loving insects such as the Bee-wolf and Antlion. There were one or two insects flying along the edge of the sandy path and one or two holes like this one...

It took a bit of patient waiting as the insects were pretty skittish, but a bee-like creature landed eventually. I don't know what it is but wonder if it might be a species of mining bee: please leave a comment if you have an idea. And on the subject of sand-loving bees, there is a wonderful photo here of a Pantaloon Bee at Minsmere.