Thursday, 10 Sep 2026

Even fewer butterflies about today. Only 2 Small Copper, 2 Small Heath and a single Meadow Brown were seen.

Three weeks ago, I encountered a female of what was a new species for me on the Downs and today I found a male Common Darter dragonfly (Sympetrum striolatum).

Another first today was an ichneumon wasp which I believe to be a female Exetastes adpressorius, although as I’ve mentioned before trying to pin down an ID for an ichneumon wasp just from photos is extremely difficult.

The Hemiptera were represented today by a final instar nymph of the White-shouldered Shieldbug (Dyroderes umbraculatus), a sparsely distributed species first recorded from the British mainland as recently as 2013, and a Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus). Only on processing the image of the Dock Bug did I notice what appears to be a large, hairy spider emerging from beneath the leaf on which the Dock Bug is sitting.

It was a good day for hoverflies, with sightings of two Eristalis species, Common Drone Fly (E. tenax) and Plain-faced Drone Fly (E. arbustorum), as well as Batman Hoverfly, Sun Fly and Common Banded Hoverfly.

On the plant front the fruiting spikes of the Broadleaf Plantain (Plantago major) are now quite prominent, particularly along the path verges.

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