"For now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see" Neutral Milk Hotel.

Tuesday 30 June 2015

Too many Moths

Finally the Moths are coming thick and fast with four days of the species list being round the 50 mark and numbers approaching 100.  Highlights from Holme over the past couple of days have included multiple Red-necked Footman, Barred Red, Small Angle Shades, Double Dart, Dog's Tooth, Beautiful Hook-tip, Scorched Wing, Rosy Footman, Ghost moth and the usual but nationally notable Sand Dart, Shore Wainscot and Lyme Grass.

Photos top to bottom: Dog's Tooth, Beautiful Hook-tip, Swallow Prominent and Spectacle





Monday 29 June 2015

Sulphur Beetle

Sulphur Beetle, Cteniopus sulphureus, Ringstead Downs, 29th June 2015


Yellow-legged Robberfly

Yellow-legged Robberfly, Neoitamus cyanurus, Holme NOA, 29th June 2015


Saturday 27 June 2015

Saturday 27th June 2015 Miscellany

Scorched Wing, Holme NOA, 27th June 2015


Fen Crest, Brachmia inornatella, Holme NOA, 27th June 2015


Cheilosia illustrata, Holme NWT, 27th June 2015


Small Magpie, Holme NOA, 27th June 2015


Marbled White Spot, Holme NOA, 27th June 2015


Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle, Holme NWT, 27th June 2015


Black Snipefly, Redwell Marsh, 27th June 2015


Beris vallata, Redwell Marsh, 27th June 2015


Friday 26 June 2015

Two new beetles for the patch..............found within five minutes of each other !

Black-striped Longhorn Beetle, Stenurella melanura, Holme NOA, 26th June 2015


Rosemary Beetle, Chrysolina americana, Holme NWT, 26th June 2015




Five moths

Maiden's Blush, Hunstanton, 26th June 2015



Figure of Eighty, Hunstanton, 24th June 2015



Smoky Wainscot, Hunstanton, 24th June 2015


Dark Groundling, Bryotropha affinis Hunstanton, 26th June 2015


Clouded-bordered Brindle, Hunstanton, 26th June 2015






Tuesday 23 June 2015

Old Hunstanton flowers

After Ringstead Downs I went to see the flowers in the dune slack at Old Hunstanton. While I was looking at the plants a Skylark sang me its melodious song.

As Robert said in a previous blog, the flowers are fantastic. The Yellow-rattle has nearly finished flowering and some of the orchids are going-over but it's still a great floral spectacle. Here's just a small selection of photos.

White form of Southern Marsh-orchid

Early Marsh-orchid

Common Spotted-orchid
 
Common Restharrow

Hare's-tail Grass

Fox-and-cubs

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar on Ragwort
 


Ringstead Downs flowers and insects

Only Meadow Brown butterflies at Ringstead today but lots of flowers and a few other insects.

My find of the day - one flower spike of Common Twayblade
  
Large Thyme

White Horehound

Sweet-briar

Dropwort

Squinancywort
 
Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis

Black Aphids on Knapweed




Saturday 20 June 2015

Today's Moths...

Lunar Hornet Clearwing

Ingrailed Clay
Red-necked Footman

Figure of Eighty
Burnished Brass

Thursday 18 June 2015

Cherry Bark Moth

Cherry Bark Moth, Hunstanton, 18th June 2015


Keith and Joan Fox caught this smart little micro last night - a scarce species in Norfolk and the first to be recorded in the patch since 2009.

Bordered Straw - a rare immigrant to the patch

Bordered Straw, Hunstanton, 18th June 2015



Two were caught overnight (17th/18th June) in separate traps in gardens in the town.

Saturday 13 June 2015