Haysden Country Park

A bright male Eristalis arbustorum photographed well with most characters seen: whitish face, bright abdominal pattern, yellow on T2 continuous with T3, pale base to hind tibia, swollen hind metatarsus, dark tip to mid tibia, dark tips to mid and front tarsi, a hint of long hairs on arista in one photo.

This picture concentrates on the swollen hind metatarsus.

Also seen were Eristalis pertinax I think, and Eristalis tenax definitely. 

To the Pheasantry and back.

Eristalis arbustorum and Eristalis pertinax, bug, Carder bee, white/buff tailed bee, honey bee, Volucella pellucens,  Episyrphus balteatus, Small White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria, Holly Blue, Common Carpet, seven spot ladybird, spider.


Spearmint, meadow vetchling, vetches, water mint, water parsnip, common centaury, ragwort, yellow loosestrife, woody nightshade, yarrow, common knapweed, black horehound,                  

Back to Dene Park

I found a nice moth on the grassy meadow which I think must be a species of Epirrhoe, perhaps the Common Carpet, Epirrhoe alternata.

Interesting to see the greyish tuft of hairs on the side of the thorax of this female Episyrphus balteatus. She seems to have a swollen abdomen (full of eggs?) and to be taking pollen directly from the anther. Note also the small facial bump, the whitish frons with the small dark Y above the antennae and the longitudinal stripes on the top of the thorax.

I photographed two Eristalis and both of those turned out to be male Eristalis pertinax.

Damp meadow

A short walk down to the damp meadow by the River Bourne demonstrated once again the great diversity of flowers there, with plenty of Hawkweed, Bristly Oxtongue, Fleabane, Ragwort,  Mayweed, Birds-Foot Trefoil, Meadowsweet, Mint, Knotgrass and a small yellow trefoil of some sort, all in full flower. Last year there were plenty of Common Blue butterflies, but I didn't see any today. There was however a minute skipper, possibly an Essex Skipper, although I could not get around to looking at the underside of its antennae tips.

The other Lepidopteran seen - apart from the usual grass plumes - was a Shaded Broad Bar, Scotopteryx chenopodiata (confirmed almost instantly on ispot).

There was also this odd fly, plunging its proboscis deep into the flower throats of this mint head

Not much variety in the hoverflies, but particularly good for Sphaerophoria scripta, 

together with some Episyrphus balteatus

and a couple of Eristalis tenax.

and there was one of the very common (this year at least) Myathropa florea.

On the way down by the side of the footpath beside the large OSR field, I found a nice Syritta pipiens, so recognisable by its size, shape and jizz. you can see the rear tibiae colour pattern slightly more clearly in the second photo.

Hunting for a needle in the haystack

The crops are struggling towards harvest at the moment, with the wheat to the North of East Lock drying off nicely:

The field on the South side of the River had already been harvested, and the straw "rolled", under a violent sky:

On the path on the way down all the hogweed was swarming with Rhagonycha fulva,

but also attracted this Volucella pellucens:

Failed to find ANY sign AT ALL of the Shepherds Needle in the crop margin

White Hill

Wonderful Chalkhill Blue butterflies, and great flowers

Pembury Heath walk

Nice walk up from the water treatment works with plenty of flowers in the damp valley leading up to the conifers and heathland. Greater Birds Foot Trefoil, Lesser Medick, Tufted Vetch, Creeping Thistle, Spear Thistle and Marsh Thistle, Cut-leaved Geranium, Willowherb, Creeping Buttercup, Perforate St Johns Wort, Selfheal, Hogweed, a little Wild Angelica, Yarrow, Nettle, Bramble, Teasel, Agrimony, Pale Persicaria, Sedges and Rushes, Daisy, Cats Ear, Hawkweed, Ragwort, White Clover, Tormentil,

On the heathland I found the trailing St Johns Wort, Hypericum humifusum, as well as heather and the cross-leaved heath. By the cottage the clump of silverwed was still there. In amongst the pines there was little, but in other areas there was sweet chestnut coppice, some rhododendron, and birch absolutely everwhere.