Even fewer butterflies on the wing today but I was stirring them into action from their resting places in the grass as I walked along. I didn’t try and count individual numbers today, rather just species, although it was obvious that Meadow Brown still dominates. Small Heath, Small White, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), Brown Argus and Speckled Wood took the species total to 9.

Returning to the Norwegian Maple where I found the aphid cluster on the underside of a leaf yesterday, I found more of the same Norway Maple Periphyllus Aphid (Periphyllus lyropictus). Unusually these were on a samara (helicopter seed) rather than a leaf. Unlike those on the leaf yesterday, this group was being farmed by ants, Black Garden Ant (Lasius niger).

I located another colony of aphids being farmed by ants on Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium). Imagine an open umbrella. Move up the shaft of the umbrella to the point where the ribs of the umbrella radiate outwards. Now visualise the umbel (the umbrella-shaped flower cluster) of Hogweed. It was at that point where the pedicels (ribs) radiate away from the peduncle (shaft) that I found the Black Bean Aphid (Aphis fabae) being farmed by Myrmica sp. ants.

Most of the Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) flowers have now gone to seed but there are just enough still flowering to attract a variety of bees. Those that I saw this morning were Tree Bumblebee, Buff-tailed Bumblebee and Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum).

The major surprise this morning was only my second ever sighting of this species in 12 years of walking on Banstead Downs, and my first photo opportunity. I was crouched over some bramble leaves draped over short grass, with the camera trained on a small hoverfly (I thought Long Hoverfly) on one of the leaves, when the fly disappeared. It had been replaced in the viewfinder by a Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara). Whether the lizard ate the fly I do not know. More likely the fly escaped. Probably as I was so still, so as not to make the fly take off, and the lizard so focussed on the fly, it was obviously unaware of my presence and continued to move around through the grass allowing me to shoot several images.

                                                                                              <<<< Previous page | Next Page >>>>