The extravaganza has continued today with plenty more insects on site in the warm weather. My first brown argus, or Aricia agestis, of the year made an appearance this morning as I surveyed for grizzled skippers – no grizzled skippers, but the brown argus along with several common blues, brimstones, holly blues and hundreds of garden chafer beetles made up for that.
The butterfly transect this afternoon produced my first painted lady, Vanessa cardui, of the year – not quite the invasion of 2009, but it’s a start!
And finally, a new moth species for the reserve today. A small patch of bracken close to the reserve entrance produced a brown silver-line, or Petrophora chlorosata, a species that feeds on bracken, it is common and quite widespread in many habitats wherever the foodplant occurs.