Monday, July 13, 2009

Some of the insects from yesterday


Six Spot Burnets
Zygaena filipendulae
Day-flying moths. They look amazing in flight.
There were dozens of them in the area behind the windmill




Throughout the Woodland and Stave Hill Ecological Park these flowers,
Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea), were covered with the same type of caterpillars.
They look like the larvae of the Cinnabar Moth (Tyria jacobaeae), which will be
one to look out for later in the year.
Senecio means an old man, and refers to the grey hairy seed pappus. I believe
that the jacobaea part refers to St James, but I have no idea why!



As above



Thanks to Les's blog I was able to identify this pretty little thing as
a male Large Skipper butterfly (Ochlodes venatus)




This is a very blurred photo but I am guessing that it is the
female of the same species, on the basis of photos in my insect books.

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