Speckled wood, goldfinch and mating damselflies

Another hot day so I decided to take my work to do in Easthill Park. Quite apt as I am working on schools urban wildlife stuff at the moment. In the south west corner, on the edge of the wooded area, is a picnic table that is in the shade during the morning. I had about 2 hours, the battery time for my laptop. There were many butterflies in the woodland area behind me and I could not resist a quick look. They were speckled wood as I had suspected. The butterfly below has damaged hind wings

I noticed a couple of male speckled wood butterflies patrolling and defending separate areas where sunlight broke through the trees. They are on the look out for females to mate with but if they encounter a male instead, they clash and I saw them spiral up into the tree tops on a few occations. Apparently the butterfly that originally claimed the territory usually wins. The adults feed on the sugary substance known as honey dew which is secreted by aphids as they feed on plant juices. When the battery finally gave up, I spent a bit of time checking out the wooded area. I counted at least 8 speckled wood butterflies at one time. I saw at least one female.

I also saw two bee flies, flicking their eggs (pic bee fly resting below) and a small wasp but it did not stay still enough to be identified.

There was a male blackbird, that appeared to be collecting food for young. Many blue and great tits. There also seems to be a pair of long tailed tits in the park, I have seen thme on a few occasions now. Also the usual starling, pigeons, magpie. I was pleased to see that the blue tits still seem to be using the nest box.

Back home, it was cooler in afternoon. Worked on the table in garden underneath the awning. A goldfinch perched on a branch behind me calling to another goldfinch not far away.

Late afternoon I noticed two 2 damselflies, locked together. The male clasps the female behind the head with his tail. After courship, they fly around together, the female dipping her abdomen in the water to lay her eggs on aquatic plants.

Just after sunset a small bumble bee visited all the flowers on my raspberry bushes - very kind of her as I am looking forward to raspberries later in the year.

Cat that eats flies, spiders.

We have a cat that loves to eat flies and spiders, which would probably please most people but I am happy with my invert garden visitors. This interest in hunting flies etc is partly due to the fact that her previous owners kept her in a flat and she only ever went outside on the balcony. For personal reasons the owner had to give Hera up and over a period of time we got her used to going outside. I noticed recently that she walks right past the solitary bees I have been watching (much to my relief). Today a bumblebee came into the conservatory and buzzed round and round Hears head. I was about to jump in a separate them, but Hera did not try to eat it. When we first let her outside, she was always trying to eat bees and wasps. I think she must have be stung and has now learnt to avoid them.

On the way down the road to the shops I noticed a dead peacock butterfly on pavement

damselflies, hovering sparrows, moth and bees.

I opened the curtains on the conservatory this morning to see another damselfly half way through emerging.

The damselfly continued to emerge slowly, pulling itself out onto the grass. The damselfly was pale and it lay in the sunlight while it slowly gained its adult colours. This is also a large red damselfly. After a couple of hours the damselfly flew up onto the gutter and hung for a while before flitting up over the roof.

A small flock of chattering female sparrows foraged on the roof. One of them hovered momentarily and it checked along the edge of he roof looking for insects.
I have often seen them performing a similar behaviour to check for insects underneath the over hang of the garden wall. Several small moths flying in the front garden. I managed to get a close look at one which I think is Pyrausta purpuralis. This species flies both during the day and at night, and is distributed throughout much of Britain. It prefers dry grassland and chalky downland habitats. We live only a few minutes from the edge of the South Downs.

In this hot weather the coservatory door is almost constantly open. Unfortunately all manner on flying insects, in particlular bees, bumblebee and wasp. The solitary and honey bees seem to have the most problem finding their way out again so I now have ajam jar by the door to catch them and let them go outside. If not they tend to hide byehind the curtan unoticed and die.

damselflies and black ants

A pleasant morning to I decided to have my morning coffee in the garden and read a few pages. As I got up to go inside I noticed the sloughed remains of a damselfly larvae. When I took a closer look I noticed that the newly hatched adult was hanging onto the foliage lower down.


The adult damselfly was still quite pale, creamy looking, following hatching. The damselflyhad very good eyesight, and reacted to my presence by hiding behind the leaf, even though I was several feet away. I accidentaly disturbed another damselfly, which promptly flew upinto the air. The remains of its larval form was also visible on a nearby plant. I kept an eye on the damselfly during the morning. Throughout the morning it slowly became more colourful. I eventually identified it as a Large Red damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula. It eventually flew off into the garden at 12.15pm.


I did some more gardening, maninly clearing away ready for planting. Too many inverts to mention all. In particular; centipedes, spiders, small black beetle (too quick) a butterfly that also shot through to quick to identify. There appear to be several holly blue butterflies around. There have been at least a pair and a single flying around the tree at the end of our back neighbours garden. It is the only type of blue butterfly in the UK that may be observed in trees.

I did accidentally disturb an black ants nest on the rockery. One of the nursery chambers was beneath a rock I moved. Black ants often have nrsery chambers in such places as the rock warms up as it absorbs the heat of the sun. The larvae and cocoons are moved around the nest to keep them at the right temperature.



As I lifted the rock, ants poured out ready to meet the attacker (me). Another group of worker ants rushed to the larvae and proceded to carry them off underground. Ants have a warning chemical (as do wasps) that galvenises each other into action and makes them aggressive.

Holly blue Butterfly

A holly blue butterfly flew into the garden and surrounding gardens. It took a while for it to settle and to get close enough to confirm identification.

While gardening I disturbed a little frog on the rockery, probably one of last years tadpoles. Two beeflies were buzzing around the rockery performing a strange behaviour. As they hovered around the rockery thye performed a quick flick of the abdomen. This is a behaviour performed by the female as they flick their eggs on to the ground. The larvae are parasites in mining bee nests. Although the fixed probosis alarms some people, as it resembles a long hypodermic needle, the fly is harmless.

Bees, flies, wasp and swift.

Friday 2nd

There is still a lot of bee activity around the margeryfish plant close to the pond. This is just outside the conservatory window and easy to keep an eye on. The small black bee is still visiting. I think it might be a female hairy footed bee Anthophora plumipes. One reason for thinking this is that at least two male hairy footed bee visit this plant, although usually one only there at a time. The male hairy foot bees appear to be quite territorial chasing off any other bees visiting the flowers.

It particularly targetted the buff tailed bumble bee that also visit. Sometimes literaly rambing into the bee knocking it off the flower. Hairy foot bees are solitary bees.

The rather unusual looking hoverfly Rhingia campestris also visits the margiery Fish. It has a prominent snout and orange abdomen. The larvae live in animal dung, usualy cow pats.

In the early evening I saw the first swift. A small group of swifts usually nest nder the eaves in our next door neighbours house.

Saturday 3rd May

Blue tits are foraging in the apple tree in the garden behind ours, which is now in full blossom. A wasp flew into the conservatory and could not find its way out again. Iused a glass to trap the wasp an release it outside. I do not yet have a speies ID for this wasp. I will ad a caption if I manage to discover the species.

Blue tits continued

Today I had to walk our daughter to school, so I could not resist a quick stop at the nest box. I was pleased to see that both blue tits were flying too and from the nest box. Although only one bird was in he box at one time, they were close together when both were outside. This included foraging and chasing off other blue tits that came too close. Just before I left the park I had an observation that confirmed that they were nesting. One of the blue tits was one the nest box calling. The second blue tit flew to the box with nesting materials in its beak.