Common blue butterfly, Polyommatus Icarus The Common blue is uncommon on Scout Scar this year. So today it's delightful to see several on the wing and to photograph two males. The pains I took with this particular butterfly!!! Horseflies stung my bare arms and I did not have a free hand to be rid of them. The morning is sunny and warm, the air humid after yesterdays unremitting rain which has refreshed flowers but brought forth biting insects.
In strong light wings are almost translucent and the warm brown of the underwing glows through the blue and there are hints of pattern.
The more I study butterflies the more I'm struck by the different look a species may present. This is a green-veined white although, once again, the underwing looks yellow-green- and veins are visible but lack the darker shading I'd expect.
The more I study butterflies the more I'm struck by the different look a species may present. This is a green-veined white although, once again, the underwing looks yellow-green- and veins are visible but lack the darker shading I'd expect.
I walked up to Scout Scar escarpment expecting that there might be flooding in the Lyth Valley below, after yesterday's rain. There were flood-alerts in Cumbria. Helsington Pool is a winding watercourse, otherwise the Lyth Valley has a geometric network of drainage ditches following the course of field-patterns imposed after wetland reclamation and enclosure and without the quirks and irregularities of earlier field patterns. After such a dry spring water has mostly drained away quickly.
The lambs of Barrowfield Farm are gathered about the farm house- separated from their mothers and bleating loudly. Later in the morning there is sllence and they have been transported to market- I assume. Bales of haylage lie in black plastic in the fields.
The lambs of Barrowfield Farm are gathered about the farm house- separated from their mothers and bleating loudly. Later in the morning there is sllence and they have been transported to market- I assume. Bales of haylage lie in black plastic in the fields.
Squinancywort is a tiny flower, a woodruff. Its white petals are striped with pink, a deeper pink at the centre of the flower. Thyme is now fully in flower, some going over and setting seed. Close-ups show a mass of tiny hairs about the calyx, something I haven't noticed before.
Scout Scar flora is lovely at this season. Field scabious, yellow lady's bedstraw and yellow compositae are dominant. There are various insect pollinators for yellow hawkbit, hawkbeard and hawkweed. One of the most striking is the iridescent green beetle Cryptocephalus hypochaeidis and its frequently seen at the centre of these yellow flowers. Not this year, I scan them looking for butterflies and the green beetles are not there.
Scout Scar flora is lovely at this season. Field scabious, yellow lady's bedstraw and yellow compositae are dominant. There are various insect pollinators for yellow hawkbit, hawkbeard and hawkweed. One of the most striking is the iridescent green beetle Cryptocephalus hypochaeidis and its frequently seen at the centre of these yellow flowers. Not this year, I scan them looking for butterflies and the green beetles are not there.
RSS Feed