For the past few years I've been labouring under the impression that our rich array of butterfly and moth fauna has been on the wane and there's no end of literature to support this rather depressing phenomenon. But so far this year, I've actually noticed an abundant, diverse selection of winged colour flitting around in the back garden - and very happy it's making me too. I don't know about you, but on a warm sunny day, nothing warms the cockles of my heart more than seeing the butterflies performing their aerial dances and the buzzing bees going about their business.
Earlier I saw a comma.
I thought maybe this was quite a rare butterfly, perhaps because it has a somewhat exotic appearance with its exquisite scalloped wings but they are, in fact, reasonably common. At least in the south of England.
There were a couple of these out there earlier too:
A much smaller butterfly than the comma but very distinctive with the orange tipped wings from which it gets its name, the orange tip.
We have a huge buddleia at the bottom of the garden and butterflies love buddleia so I'm hoping that it will draw in clouds of butterflies later on in the summer when it's in full bloom.
One particular species of moth for which I have a soft spot is the cinnabar moth
We used to take walks on a disused railway when I was a gal growing up near Bath (the old Slow and Dirty) and there used to be clouds of cinnabar moths. Apparently they are fond of ragwort and there was always a profusion of this plant growing along the old railway. I don't see them at all these days - it's not for a lack of ragwort, of that I am sure, as I spend hours every summer grubbing out ragwort from the field where I keep my pony.
And something else I saw the other night down in my woodland loggia that announced its arrival by a very low pitched humming accompoanied by several hard pinging sounds as it ricocheted off various surfaces as it buzzed around my room. Yes, a May bug, otherwise known as a cockchafer. Haven't seen one of those for ages either but I think they are found of the woodland environment in which my loggia is located. I'm sure I'll be encountering some pretty impressive stag beetles down there too later in the year so I'll definitely have my goggles on if I'm out on my bicycle of an evening.
Wonder if I'll get to see any glow worms or fire flies down there? That would be quite awesome.
Any of you seen any inneresting insect life so far this spring?
Earlier I saw a comma.
I thought maybe this was quite a rare butterfly, perhaps because it has a somewhat exotic appearance with its exquisite scalloped wings but they are, in fact, reasonably common. At least in the south of England.There were a couple of these out there earlier too:
A much smaller butterfly than the comma but very distinctive with the orange tipped wings from which it gets its name, the orange tip.
We have a huge buddleia at the bottom of the garden and butterflies love buddleia so I'm hoping that it will draw in clouds of butterflies later on in the summer when it's in full bloom.
One particular species of moth for which I have a soft spot is the cinnabar moth
We used to take walks on a disused railway when I was a gal growing up near Bath (the old Slow and Dirty) and there used to be clouds of cinnabar moths. Apparently they are fond of ragwort and there was always a profusion of this plant growing along the old railway. I don't see them at all these days - it's not for a lack of ragwort, of that I am sure, as I spend hours every summer grubbing out ragwort from the field where I keep my pony.And something else I saw the other night down in my woodland loggia that announced its arrival by a very low pitched humming accompoanied by several hard pinging sounds as it ricocheted off various surfaces as it buzzed around my room. Yes, a May bug, otherwise known as a cockchafer. Haven't seen one of those for ages either but I think they are found of the woodland environment in which my loggia is located. I'm sure I'll be encountering some pretty impressive stag beetles down there too later in the year so I'll definitely have my goggles on if I'm out on my bicycle of an evening.
Wonder if I'll get to see any glow worms or fire flies down there? That would be quite awesome.
Any of you seen any inneresting insect life so far this spring?
) but I'm not the only one and, from where I am currently sitting, I don't know whether she is a real individual, a sockie, a bot, or God sending me subliminal commands! 
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