heath fritillary 08

We went for a long walk today with Lisa, who reads this blog and lives across the road. She particularly enjoys our early morning singing. We were very lucky to see lots of heath fritillary butterflies; clearly the re-introduction into Greenscoombe woods is working very well, thanks to the hard work of so many people.

on our walk

On our walk today. the faint patch of pink in the background is a patch of ragged robin. Spot and Harri were off somewhere arguing over a badger jaw bone.

long horned beetle

Spot thinks this is a long horned beetle, but we are not sure which one. We have decided it is the variable longhorn as that covers all bases.

tipula maxima

This is the largest of British crane flies. It is supposed to be common but I have never seen one before, and it is very big. It looks amazingly complex and reminds me of an apache helicopter.

water figwort

the flower of water figwort. Water figwort is a tall, handsome figwort found in wet marshy places. It has much more vivid flowers than common figwort, and very square, angular stems.

valerian

valerian is appearing everywhere. It has a strange burnt rubber smell and attracts a wide range of flies and other insects. I think this is a horse fly of some sort