Aston Rowant, full of chalk grassland flowers and insects, the Cretaceous escarpment above the Oxford Clay (Jurassic) plainMale Adonis BlueFemaleSilver-Spotted Skipper Hesperia commaSphecid digger waspMeadow Grasshopper, a fine insectHarvestman cf Platybunus triangularisRed Kite overhead … and a moment later, a Raven, calling loudly, too
Black Darters in wheeL The pools were very low from a month of drought, and many of the dragonflies correspondingly distant, but this pair came obligingly close.Keeled Skimmer male sunbathing on boardwalk. Some definitely like it hot. Ask me about poikilothermy sometime, I’ll explain it to you.Thursley Common boardwalk, bog, pools, pines, birch scrub, distant hills. A Hobby flew up, its back rather uniformly grey-brown. Seen soaring later from the side, its moustachial stripe was conspicuous.Bordered Grey Moth, Selidosema brunnearia (a Geometrid) in heather, its caterpillar’s favourite foodBeautiful Golden Y Moth, Autographa pulchrina (a Noctuid), hiding in heatherRobber fly on bell heatherSmall Sand Wasp, Ammophila pubescens, continually in motion on a sandy path
Right at the end of the walk, a huge leaf-green Emperor Moth caterpillar (Saturnia pavonia), whorled with black tufts on each segment, walked briskly like a self-propelled cylindrical concertina across the boardwalk. Just as I grabbed my camera and leant up close, it fell down the gap between two planks and disappeared into the thick green grass below. It was a sight to behold, as long and thick as a finger.
