Tuesday 12 April 2016

Grizzled Skippers herald Spring

Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae
A visit to Mill Hill today convinced me that Spring has arrived. I did my butterfly transect with the following results:  Brimstones (2♂, 1♀), Peacocks 5, Small Tortoiseshell 1, Grizzled Skippers 3, moths: Barred Tooth-striped, Common Purple and Gold, Straw-barred Pearl, Wavy-barred Sable. At times there were 3 peacocks battling in the air. I had 6 sightings of adders (4 black, 2 silver), including 2 males performing a dominance dance. Lindsay Morris spotted the first 3 Grizzled Skippers, then I found some myself, all on the north end of the bottom of the hill.
Adder, Vipera berus
male adders performing domination dance 



Barred Tooth-striped, Trichopteryx polycommata
Black Slug, Arion ater agg.
Brimstone, Gonepteryx rhamni
Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara 
Common Purple and Gold, Pyrausta purpuralis


Garden Snail, Helix aspersa
Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae
Grizzled Skipper

view from Mill Hill

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae
Song Thrush egg, Turdus philomelos
Straw-barred Pearl, Pyrausta despicata
Wavy-barred Sable, Pyrausta nigrata
Wood Violet, Viola riviniana
Wood Violets
more Wood Violets

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