Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) and Small Blue (Cupido minimus) are the most numerous butterflies in the open areas with a good number of Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) on the woodland paths.

The Common Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) is beginning to blossom and is supporting a host of insects and spiders. Those photographed today were Small Blue butterfly, Trivial Plant Bug (Closterotomus trivialis), Rustic Sailor Beetle (Cantharis rustica), Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima), Cucumber Green Spider (Araniella cucurbitina), Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) and Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica), while on an oak sapling springing up through one of the dogwoods I found both a Red-thighed Macrophya sawfly (Macrophya rufipes) and Cinquefoil Strider (Macrophya annulata). On the clematis along the edge of one of the woodland sections I took a photo of what I think may be a female Broad-margined Mining Bee (Andrena synadelpha).

Newly flowering wildflowers are Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata), Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea) and Old-man’s-beard/Traveller’s Joy (Clematis vitalba). Cat’s-ear is yet another of the many yellow dandelion-like composites that grace Banstead Downs, so photos of the flower head, above and below, the stem, leaves on the stem and basal leaves are a good idea if you want to be certain of your ID.

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