A sunny, but cold day. The March winds continue again limiting the number of butterflies on the wing. Total count was just 2, a second Orange Tip to add my first from three days ago and the first Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) of the season.

Hoverflies were represented by a Variable Duskyface Fly (Melanostoma mellinum) also first seen three days ago, a Spring Epistrophe (Epistrophe eligans) and a female Lesser Banded Hoverfly (Syrphus vitripennis). The latter can be separated from the Common Banded Hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii) by the largely black femurs of the rear legs (seen in right panel of my split image), which are all yellow in S. ribesii.

A Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) showed early signs of infestation by the Rowan Leaf Blister Mite (Eriophyes sorbi) on some newly opened leaves. The galls caused by the tiny mites manifest as domed pustules on both surfaces of the leaves. My image shows distinct pin-prick openings in these pustules on the underside of the leaves.

A single, early Common Field Speedwell (Veronica persica) was noted on 4^th March. Three weeks later and they are now much more apparent, in one area side-by-side with the latest wildflower to appear, Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens). ‘Green’ might seem a strange name to give to a blue flower, but it is a contraction of ‘evergreen’, referring to the leaves.

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