Chicksands Wood

The "Chicksands Wood" season has started and today I took my first walk around the wood in search of the specialist butterflies. Unfortunately I missed out on Purple Emperor by less than a minute by choosing to walk towards the distant group who waved at me rather than running. I'll be back soon for another go though. Managed to grab a couple of pleasing images of others though, notably Purple Hairstreak, White Admiral and Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet Moth.

Orange-tailed Clearwing, Honeydon

Popped out to make the most of this weather and dangled some pheromones.

Caddisflies?

Catching a few of these things which I presume are caddisflies of some sort. Any ideas?

Poppies

Poppy field to the west of Chicksands Wood, June 2011.  Incredibly impressive.

Rookery South ClP

A panoramic view of Rookery South Clay Pit in its current state, June 2011.  Currently looking superb for waders, but soon to be filled in.

IDs please

A micro from 23 June
Another micro from 23 June
A Pug from 23 June
From 2 June

Black Hairstreak - Marston Thrift 14/6

Managed to obtain a record shot of this Black Hairstreak found after a lot of searching today, same spot as two seen by Steve Blain on Sat 11/6. Good to know they are still around but concerning that the population seems to be so low and so local; this colony must be extremely vulnerable.

Me too at Honeydon RNR

Spurred on by enthusiastic reports of the Honeydon road verges on the BNHS newsgroup I headed there this morning. Here are my close-ups of the three star species, Spiked Star-of-Bethlehem, Crested Cow-wheat, and Sulphur Clover:

Probably new for VC30......9th June 2011

After a coordinated night of moth trapping all around RSPB The Lodge. Two of these seemingly insignificant micro moth appeared on a vertical sheet. It is a RDB species and hasn't been seen in Bedfordshire since 1904, if these records are even reliable. Micro recorder David Manning is currently looking at a few more, so watch this space...........

799 Neofriseria singula

Roadside Verge at Honeydon in June

One of the best roadside verges in Bedfordshire, just south of the hamlet of Honeydon. It is particularly impressive at the moment (June).

Three Bedfordshire rarities are found there, from front to back, Sulphur Clover, Crested Cow-wheat and Spiked Star-of-Bethlehem.

A closer view of Crested Cow-wheat and Spiked Star-of-Bethlehem.

Another new micro for Beds

Pempelia Palumbella - photo by Colin Campbell

Pempelia Palumbella, The Lodge, 2nd June 2011 - a new micro moth for Bedfordshire, found on the old heath.