Critters at Cranford Park

I was at Cranford Park today primarily to do the butterfly transect but it was such a nice day that I hung around afterwards to see what other critters were about

 

This is a species of wasp called the Ornate Tailed Digger wasp (cerceris rybyensis) - it is a fairly widespread species which kills mining bees and takes them to it's nest for the grubs to feed on

 

 

This beautiful day flying tiny moth is the Mint moth (Pyrausta aurata) - they have two flying seasons - late spring and late summer

 

 

The cooler weather meant there were lots of hoverflies around - ids under each photo

Heliophilus pendulus

Volucella pellucens - aka Great Pied Hoverfly

Volucella zonaria - aka the Hornet mimic

Eristalis sp

Syrphus sp

The butterfly count was quite good - you can tell that high season is over now as my count was only 130 butterflies of 11 species

 

Large White x 19

Small White x 14

Small Copper x 15

Common Blue x 12

Brown Argus x 2

Holly Blue x 6

Red Admiral x 3

Comma x 1

Speckled Wood x 17

Gatekeeper x 33

Meadow Brown x 8

 

Small Copper

Small Copper

 

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood

Meadow Brown

Meadow Brown - underwing

Red Admiral

Red Admiral - underwing

Common Blue

Comma - a very tatty individual

Holly Blue

Holly Blue

Brown Argus

 

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Brown Argus - a tatty individual

I'll be at the park again tomorrow to work out the best route for the Cranford Park Butterfly Walk that I will be leading on Saturday August 4th - meet at the Information Centre at 11am - it's looking to be a hot day so bring bottled water and a sun hat if you can make it