When the birds go quiet? The answer, my friends, is to look closer, and see the world that flitters and flutters, and buzzes and hums. The pretty, the ugly, the scary and odd. View the struggles of life and death, all played out in miniature..... what follows is a couple of hours wandering around Badbury Rings, before it got too hot.
Ok, so the birds hadn't all gone quiet... Stonechat in the shadow
I was out with my sister, who was hoping to catch dew laden Marble Whites, but 6 o'clock was too late for most of the dew to still be there! And the Marble Whites were few and far between until later in the wander...Loads of Gatekeepers were up and about though
And also several Skippers (I haven't got to their ID's yet, so feel free to provide some )
We did think about opening a French restaurant with and escargot speciality, or a snail racing club
I'm sure there would have been more, but I only spotted one Ringlet
Eagle-eyed sis spotted a Green lacewing, basking
And another Skipper landed nearby, showing his alienesque face
I mentioned life and death.... well I unfortunately disturbed a cricket, which promptly hopped into a web...... never too early for protein
There were a lot of field moths flitting about, plus a couple of more photogenic ones...a Shaded Broad Bar (please correct me if wrong!)
There were a couple of clumps of Cinnabar Caterpillars
A number of whites were fluttering about, rarely settling... a Small did
There weren't just big strong cricket eating spiders, but long gangly ones too!
One of the buzzy things, possibly a Chequered Hoverfly (again, please correct me if wrong)
Another moth, this time a 6 Spot Burnet
And finally, a Marble White.... but dew free!!
Going from beautiful into the odd/ugly camp...a Robber Fly
And veering back into Beautiful loveliness.... a Mint Moth
Funnily enough....not near any mint!? The underside is as pretty as the top!
A Marbled White displaying battle scars...it's not all nectar and sunshine being a butterfly
There were many, MANY meadow Browns, but I resisted the urge to photograph them all.... just one was snapped in fact
A Painted Lady was my 1st of the year, I think
The most abundant, perhaps surprisingly, were Gatekeeper
We could hear a charm of Goldfinches as they flew overhead at semi regular intervals, and there was a Chiffchaff in the distance, so not all birdlife had abandoned us, and a Stonechat made another appearance on the path a little way ahead of us
Not sure what these few pics are, Cinnabar Caterpillar, eating, escaping or ....?
As my sister was after Marble Whites, here's another!
And one of my favourite head on poses
Another Skipper came whizzing by and landed in camera range
The Marbled Whites were much easier to see from a distance when they didn't land on the white flowers!!
Suddenly out of nowhere a flotilla of Blues came by, including Small and Common (I didn't get any Small shots unfortunately)
And then on the way back to the car, a juvenile Stonechat (I think) sat atop a scrubby bush and waited for me to get nearly close enough for a decent pic before flying off, leaving me with only a couple of approach shots!
So, dear friends, as you can see, the dearth of bird life (save Stonechats!!) can lead to adventure in miniature, you just need to look a little closer!
Thanks all for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Things may have been relaxed, but Stay Safe All... and mind the sun...it is proper hot out there!!
Fabulous photos PB, and as the old saying goes, "while the cats away, the mice will play", so the birds are away, and the insects are at play....
Nice to see a six spot burnet moth, we don't have them here, so I'm missing seeing them no thanks to Covid at a reserve I frequent. It looks like the cinnabar caterpillar managed to make the escape before being eaten alive!
Any news on the big lens yet?
Linda257 said:Super shots PB..that was a nice read and passed the time before I head into the dentist for part 5,6,7..(lost count now) of root canal treatment
Ouch!!!!