Butterfly update

It doesn't look like a good year for butterflies yet again. I saw my first Small Skippers, Red Admirals and the rather splendid Comma shown above in the last week but these are relatively isolated individuals. The Meadow Browns are ubiquitous as usual but Ringlets and Speckled Woods are not frequent this year and the species total stands at twelve so far.

NEW SPECIES - BEE ORCHID!!!

Just two weeks after increasing the orchid species here to three from two we have added another one so that's four and counting. And this one is the absolutely stunning Bee Orchid.

New Species - Heath Spotted Orchid

I have been busy counting Common Spotted Orchids and protecting them from rabbits and I noticed that one looked different. It turns out to be a species I had not recorded before - a Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata). That makes three species Common Spotted, Heath Spotted and Broad-leaved Helleborine. I am up to a total of 102 Orchids versus 123 last year but there is a good chance that I will reach last year's total over the next couple of weeks.

Spring fungus - Veiled Poisonpie

Found in some rough grass between the soft car park and the village glade - the worryingly named Veiled Poisonpie (Hebeloma mesophaeum).

Broad-bodied Chaser & Swallows

There was a Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) in the house yesterday. I wasn't sure whether the poor state of the pond after the dry Winter would support dragonflies but that is an encouraging sign. There's certainly plenty of insects around for it to feed on. Talking of insects we had a pair of swallows around the house for the first time in two years but unfortunatley they only stayed a day. They eschewed the barn with its many places to nest but did investigate the garage as the door happened to be open. It's probably just as well that they didn't settle on the garage as it would have been awkward having the door open all summer.

New Species - Buff Tip

I spotted this magnificent Moth sleeping on a grass stem yesterday. It is a Buff Tip (Phalera bucephala) which passes itself off as a Birch twig when resting. I am not quite sure what it was doing in the meadow rather than in the trees but it is one more moth species for the site. At some point I will get a moth trap and really start adding some species.

RIP female Bullfinch

One of my favourite birds had a fatal accident with one of our windows. The Bullfinches seem to always go around as a pair and they are so beautiful but the female must have flown into a window despite us putting stickers and other objects on them. We have only had two window fatalities so far this year - both in the space of a few days. A Blackbird was the victim previously when it panicked on seeing us outside.