I had a good session up in the old quarry that is Millers Dale Nature Reserve, part of the Wye Valley SSSI.
Meadow Browns, Maniola jurtina, were out in reasonable numbers, but could have been outnumbered by the Ringlets on first impression. Ringlets do seem to be having a good year.
I think this is a female Meadow Brown, settled in the grass. Egg-laying could be on her mind perhaps? She has both front legs over the top of the grassblade, together with her right rear leg, and the left rear leg hooked under the grass blade, holding her steady. Like all Nymphalids, the front legs are tiny and vestigial, and hardly ever visible at all.
Females are more banded than the males, and rarely "spotted" - apart from the main eye spot of course. You can see the rolled up probscis, not quite fully withdrawn.
I think this however is the male, with a duller less banded rear underwing. You can just see a red mite attached to the "neck". The rear underside wing shows no spots however, some males have them, some don't and it appears to be genetically related to predation risk, with a degree of genetic drift towards more uniform but differently marked populations on different smaller islands. There may be gene linkage involved as well.
This male by contrast has two spots on the lower underside wing, which indicates variability in this population at least.
There seem to be many more flowers up North than at home in the parched garden of England. Here is a plant that I suspect of being Greater Burnet-Saxifrage, Pimpinella major. However it's a little hairier, and rather less furrowed than I expected.
Meadow Browns, Maniola jurtina, were out in reasonable numbers, but could have been outnumbered by the Ringlets on first impression. Ringlets do seem to be having a good year.
I think this is a female Meadow Brown, settled in the grass. Egg-laying could be on her mind perhaps? She has both front legs over the top of the grassblade, together with her right rear leg, and the left rear leg hooked under the grass blade, holding her steady. Like all Nymphalids, the front legs are tiny and vestigial, and hardly ever visible at all.
Females are more banded than the males, and rarely "spotted" - apart from the main eye spot of course. You can see the rolled up probscis, not quite fully withdrawn.
I think this however is the male, with a duller less banded rear underwing. You can just see a red mite attached to the "neck". The rear underside wing shows no spots however, some males have them, some don't and it appears to be genetically related to predation risk, with a degree of genetic drift towards more uniform but differently marked populations on different smaller islands. There may be gene linkage involved as well.
This male by contrast has two spots on the lower underside wing, which indicates variability in this population at least.
There seem to be many more flowers up North than at home in the parched garden of England. Here is a plant that I suspect of being Greater Burnet-Saxifrage, Pimpinella major. However it's a little hairier, and rather less furrowed than I expected.
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