Firstly I have now amended yesterdays blog as I mis-identified one of the species of butterfly I saw - so yesterdays butterfly count was actually 15 species including the Brown Argus which I mistakenly called a Common Blue
I was back at the park again today but primarily to look for the kestrels - sadly still no sign of any juveniles and again only one brief sighting of the adult male as he flew towards the woods - I will check again next week
The 'girls' (our resident cattle) were mooching along one of the paths
Most of the brambles are already bearing fruit but where there were the odd flowers there were Gatekeeper butterflies - four in the photo below
I've not seen that many ladybirds this season and I can certainly say that Harlequin numbers are right down on previous years - but I did find a larva and pupa today
There is one particular hoverfly that I've been trying to photograph without success - the huge ugly Volucella zonaria - and again today it evaded me but instead I found something even more special
A beautiful Jersey Tiger moth
Nathalie Mahieu and myself found one in exactly the same area back on August 27th 2016 but it was quite high up in the buddleia and my photos weren't all that good - todays little beauty was at head level and allowed me to get very close
According to the Butterfly Conservation website this species is general found on the south coast with only a few records from the London area so I will submit my record to my UKBMS mentor
I may not have found the kestrels but I did find a tiger
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