New Antlers! Strips of ‘velvet’ – the layer of skin that (astonishingly rapidly) develops the antlers, from nothing each year – are hanging from the tines. The deer are today in small groups, quite unlike the massed winter herds. The stags are still sitting unconcernedly with the hinds and other stags, but evidently not for much longer. Soon it’ll be the rutting season.
At the Beverley Brook, we were lucky enough – it was quiet enough – to come close to a Heron, fishing in the stream; and just at that moment, a Kingfisher darted up-river, brilliant turquoise, heartstoppingly beautiful. It landed on a willow branch above the water: such a small bird, such perfect colours.
‘Common’ Blue butterfly in the wide meadows of Richmond Park
6-Spot Burnet Moth side view with proboscis nectaring on Marjoram, antennae iridescent blue. Extremely flighty on a really hot day!6-Spot Burnet Moth on Marjoram, Red on Iridescent Green (like the related Forester Moth, which flies here earlier in the year)6-Spot Burnet Moth on Marjoram, same insect, looking Red on Black. The brilliant conspicuous coloration is evidently aposematic, more or less honestly warning that the insects are toxic, containing cyanogenic glucosides. A recent article finds, however, that the most toxic burnet moths are not more aposematic, i.e. there is no quantitative relationship. (But wouldn’t the less toxic moths evolve to look like the most toxic ones, as it’s safer…)
Moulting Grasshopper
Hoverfly on St John’s WortA magnificently large Parasitic Wasp on HogweedSoldier Beetle on HogweedPyrausta nigrata: a beautiful chocolate-brown Micro Moth of downland with a wavy wing bar, among the wild Thyme (that’s how small it is)
Common Blue butterfly on Self-Heal
Marbled White on ScabiousDark Green Fritillary (with quaking-grass above). Not only rare, but very flighty! I was happy to get this long shot through the grass.
There were also Small Whites, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, Small Skippers, and possibly Chalkhill Blues about.
A magnificently short, gnarly Beech getting a good toe-hold on the Chalk
Well this probably is a Chiltern Gentian, the flowers are large, and showier than the Autumn Gentian; pinker than the camera has made it look, too
Glorious Indian Summer weather – 26C – in late September was too good to miss, so I strolled around Wraysbury Lakes in shirtsleeves. I was rewarded with the sight of plenty of Common Blue butterflies (the females brown); Greater Spotted and Green Woodpeckers; Cormorants, Little Egrets, and a Hobby gracefully searching for late dragonflies (Migrant Hawker, Common Darter) in the fine warm weather.
Don’t eat me!Emperor moth caterpillar being eaten by ants
Thursley Common scene looking across bog with dead Pines, open lake with Canada geese, encroaching Birch scrub and Pine forest in the distance
Goldfinch atop Pine tree
Tailless Lizard on boardwalkHoney-scented banks of Bell Heather, Gorse, Birch on Thursley CommonBee-Wolf with Bee preySmall Ammophila Sand-wasp, scurrying about in the heather searching for preyThursley Common: managing the heather by mowing irregular stripsBlack-Tailed SkimmerKeeled SkimmerBlack Darter, a tiny dragonflyCommon DarterThursley Common – the sandy paths full of sand-wasps and bee-wolves, the heather full of bees and grasshoppers
Also saw Common Blue Damselfly, Southern Hawker, Emperor Dragonfly.
Ancient Olive Grove near Ostuni, Puglia. One tree here was measured at 1,400 years old. Mating Flower Beetles on Greater Pignut. The species has brown elytra, unlike the iridescent green elytra of the thick-kneed flower beetle familiar in northern Europe.The Olive Groves harbour an attractive flora of herbs and grasses, and a rich fauna of butterflies (here, Common Blue), grasshoppers, bugs and beetles. Birdlife includes Hoopoe, Serin, Swift, and Swallow and the occasional Kestrel, and plenty of Italian Sparrows.Scabious in Olive GroveMulleinStone Grasshopper: this marvellously camouflaged insect is practically invisible unless it moves. Its bold disruptive coloration effectively breaks up its outline and misleads the eye about its shape and shadow. Fallen fruits of grasses and vetchSpirit of the Olive Tree? A gnarled olive trunk resembling an ancient faceAnt-lion (Myrmeleontidae), another well-camouflaged insect. This is the adult; the larva lives in a burrow, where it traps ants in a conical pit by digging the sand away beneath them.Olive Grove pruning: neat rows of brash, and the occasional stack of logs. Ant Road across Olive Grove trackLarge Grasshopper rescued from swimming pool. I also saved a brown lizard but didn’t have the camera with me to record it. Painted Lady
Scarlet Darter
Limestone boulder handsomely lichened in orange, grey, black, and white
Passenger moth, Dysgonia algira. It was easy to see when it moved but not at all badly camouflaged among the limestone blocks of the field wall.
Spider-hunting wasp (Anoplius: Pompilidae) with much larger prey, which she dragged off to her burrow, paralysed but alive, for her young to live on until they pupateHouse Gecko on wall of old farmhouse (a Masseria)Italian Sparrow with food for nestlings, waiting for a moment to fly unobserved to the nest hole in the Masseria
Common Blue [L’icaro o argo azzurro] (Polyommatus icarus) on Lavender beside the swimming pool of the lovely agriturismo farm, Rocca di Cispiano, where we stayed in Chianti. Species names are shown in English [Italian] and (Latin).
Pool area: not an obvious place for butterflies, but the clever planting of a Lavender border made all the difference
Scarce Swallowtail [Il podalirio] (Iphiclides podalirius), a large butterfly with a distinctive sailing flight, taking nectar beside the poolSilver-Washed Fritillary [La pafia o Tabacco di Spagna o Fritillaria] (Argynnis paphia), a handsome and distinctive species
Tuscan landscape (Chianti): hilltop farms, Vines (bright green rows), Olive trees (blue-gray trees in rows), low mixed maquis (macchia mediterranea) forest, Cypress trees on left skyline
Nine-Spotted Moth [La fegea] (Amata phegea) frequently visited the lavender border and other flowers. It was once also found in England; Chris Manley suggests that global warming might allow it to return (a possible silver lining to that cloud).Brimstone [La cedronella] (Gonepteryx rhamni)Hummingbird Hawkmoth [La sfinge del galio o sfinge colibrì] (Macroglossum stellatarum), darting from flower to flower each time just before I managed to focus the little camera …
Bee-fly (neither a bee nor a butterfly) half-hovering to take nectar, making a particularly loud buzz
Meadow Brown [La Giurtina o Maniola comune] (Maniola jurtina)Red Admiral [L’atalanta] (Vanessa atalanta). It has a chunk out of its right hindwing, showing it survived an attack.The enormous, fearsome, but non-aggressive Mammoth Wasp, [La vespa mammuth] (Megascolia maculata), on Wild Artichoke. Presumably its sting would be serious but I can’t find any record of people being stung by this peaceful insect.
A Mammoth Wasp visiting a potted Hottentot Fig, with a wide view of the Tuscan landscape
Oak Yellow Underwing Moth (Catocala nymphagoga) on shower beside pool
The bushes by the pool attracted this Southern White Admiral [Il Silvano azzurro o Piccolo silvano] (Limenitis reducta)Swallows [La rondine] (Hirundo rustica) swooping over the pool at sunset. Many pairs nest in the farm buildings; there were two active nests inside our porch.
Perfect butterfly habitat a short walk from the agriturismo: meadow grass by Olive groves with Scabious (blue) and St John’s Wort (yellow). There’s a tiny Queen of Spain Fritillary in the picture!
Sloe Hairstreak [Satiro dell’acacia] (Satyrium acaciae)Swallowtail [Il macaone] (Papilio machaon); this one at Brolio castle, but there were many near the agriturismo tooQueen of Spain Fritillary [La latonia] (Issoria lathonia) on ScabiousClouded Yellow [La crocea, La limoncella, Il postiglione] (Colias croceus) pair in nuptial flightMarbled White [La galatea] (Melanargia galathea)Probably Eastern Burnet Moth [La carniolica] (Zygaena cf carniolica) on Scabious.
Zygaena cf carniolica taking flight. The brilliant red underwings give a strong and honest warning signal of the insect’s inedibility.
Eastern Dappled White [L’ausonia] (Euchloe ausonia)
Olive Grove and Spanish Broom. Butterflies skittered about the flowery meadow below the trees.
Wall Brown [La megera] (Lasiommata megera)A lizard, probably the Common Wall Lizard [Lucertola muraiola] (Podarcis muralis) given its dark chin, scurried along the wooden rail at the edge of the pool area.
A very battered Oak Yellow Underwing that has survived an attack by a bird
Great Banded Grayling [Circe, Satiro circe, Sileno] (Brintesia circe)Dingy Skipper [Tagete] (Erynnis tages). There were Large Skippers about too, but their habit of perching on slender waving grasses made photography hopeless.Painted Lady [La vanessa del cardo] (Vanessa cardui)Spotted Fritillary [La didima] (Melitaea didyma)
Some rather fine wasps apparently attempting to mate
Although it was a bit late in the season for them, we saw half-a-dozen fireflies in the woods by the strada bianca (unmetalled road) and among the olive trees, half an hour or so after sunset.
I made no attempt to photograph birds, but a Hoopoe flew over the pool, and Turtle Doves cooed nearby. A Cuckoo called from far across the valley; a Song Thrush sang; a Green Woodpecker gave its laughing cry. White Wagtails flew up to the roof, and Italian Sparrows hopped about. Goldfinches twittered in the trees. A Sardinian Warbler raced for the cover of the trees, its black crown conspicuous; a Melodious Warbler sang from the woods. In the night, an owl called, it could have been a Scops Owl. And of course, Cicadas buzzed and Bush Crickets chirped all day long.
