Butterflies and bugs

Common blue butterfly female

It seems to have been a slightly better year for butterflies and moths this year.  I have seen more that I remember in previous years, or maybe I’m just able to be out in the sun at the right time.  As well as male common blue butterflies I saw a female this week.  Confusingly her colouring is much more multicoloured than the male, and I thought she was a different species until I looked her up.

Heather bank in gully field

For the last few weeks I have noticed small black and red moths perched at the top of the gully bank in the sunshine.  Taking a closer look at this one the wings seemed quite transparent.  I think they are six spot burnet moths.

six spot burnet

A bit further down the bank on the heather bush I found this cocoon, so I think these are new moths just hatching and puffing up their wings (I’m sure there is a proper name for that process!).  Apparently the caterpillars feed on birdsfoot trefoil, which I have fairly widespread over the holding, particularly where the grass is slightly shorter and the soil shallower.

Cocoon in heather

I was pleased to get this photo of this chimney sweeper moth.  They are always quite a number of them at this time of year in the grass, but they are easily disturbed and, being small and dark, slightly difficult to focus on.  You can see how they come by their name – like flecks of burnt paper blowing about the grass!  The tips of the wings are rimmed with white, but the rest of the insect is sooty black.  The caterpillars feed on pignut flowers and seeds – so there is certainly plenty of that for them!

Chimney sweeper moth

This caterpillar I was also very happy to see.  Especially so when I looked it up.  It is the caterpillar of the emporer moth.  Which is a rather impressive moth with big eyespots on the wings.  The moths are usually about in April, but I’ve only seen an adult once or twice previously.  At least this caterpillar proves that there are still some adults about.  The caterpillars feed on heather, bramble, hawthorne as well as several other trees so should have plenty of menu options here.

Emporer moth caterpilar

 

Finally a little show of some of the the other moths, butterflies and caterpillars recently seen, that I’ve been able to photograph and tentatively identify.  None are particularly rare, but each is a bit of magic.

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