Hope y'all still with me Soon after our La Gomeran trip we had to up sticks and move from Club Marina to another resort, Club La Costa's Monterrey at San Eugenio Alto, Costa Adeje. The accomodation was plusher with the balcony half the size of a tennis court. From this balcony one morning I watched ...

Cracking part 2! What next flying gliding with vultures? No, but riding on camels was a possibility :o :) . There was also a chance to go sea fishing and I was hoping Francesca would've been keen to come but she decided it would be too upsetting to see the little fish part of the catch being killed...

Your African grass blues are males. The females are typically brown on the upperside with very little blue: You are quite right Guy :) . The dark border looked thicker in that specimen, a bit like on a Holly Blue so perhaps that was the reason I erroneously jumped to that conclusion :roll: . My Col...

Chocky wrote:Not so sure about that but here is a video of a Red Admiral doing the most peculiar things with his antennae as if he is cleaning them

I had a look with the clip on full size and I think he might be cleaning his mouthparts or eyes rather than antennae?

I wouldn't mind coming if I could convince myself that I wouldn't end up missing you all like I did at Kempton Park yesterday? Those running stall 11 told me that no-one turned up at the UKB stall. The note said you'd meet at 1:00 but perhaps my timekeeping wasn't good

Part 2 (more waffle and fluff, less pics) As the evening was nice and sunny (as ever) I took the family down to Las Galletas old town. On arrival I parked the car by the beach and was quickly into some rockpooling, with the girls showing some real enthusiasm and joining in for a change :) A crab was...

moth reminds me of a mocha of some description Chris Thanks Chris. I agree it does look like from the sub-family sterrhinae, it has a pinkish hue but the other markings are not very distinct to help with possible match to a UK species. The next moth I'll be posting in part 3 is a lot easier (I thin...

Part 2 now PLEASE Phil, part 2..? agree with Gibster! As the French don't say "encore, encore" Thanks for the compliments, although it's putting the pressure on ... I haven't started the next bit yet :!: BTW any of you going to the ento fair at Kemptom park tomorrow :?: if so might see yo...

Hi folks It has been a while since I last posted due to being on holiday with the family in Tenerife. In between the normal holiday leisure activities and family responsibilities I'd managed to find a bit of time to try and discover what butterflies and other wildlife were present on this island, an...

Hi Charles.
My initial thought was Chalk-hill Blue ...perhaps Provence Chalk-hill Blue (Lysandra hispana) due to locality

Where's Padfield when you need him

Phil

When I was a kid growing up in County Durham I used to find these striking caterpillars quite a lot :) ... usually on apple. Unfortunately I never got to see the moth because every example I tried to rear on to pupal stage was parasitised (tachinids) :( . Funny how things like that stick in the memo...

Looks like a male on the Cow Parsley Philzoid. Nice shot of the hornet mimic, V. zonaria (I think). Thanks Paul :D . A male was my initial impression but it looked more vivid in the photo's (I need a new camera) :? . Really wasn't expecting that and so that cheered me up. I know exactly what you me...

With Saturday looking the most promising day of the weekend and bank holiday weather for the Southeast, I headed back to Bookham Commons which is turning out ot be a little gold mine for Brown hairstreak. Arriving at aound 1 O'clock I met a work colleague who'd been there since the morning but had n...

I love these caterpillars, as I remember seeing plenty in my youth and I still do see them locally if I am lucky (normally feeding on Rosebay Willow-herb, but as mentioned, can feed on Fuschia and other types of Willow-herb too). This is a caterpillar that occasionally is reported in local newspape...

Having visited Noar Hill twice and dipped twice on Brown Hairstreak :( I decided to take up Gibster's recommendation of Bookham Commons in Surrey, a site much closer to home. Over the next few days I inspected the Commons on three occasions with varying results and still managed to squeeze in a trip...

When we got back home this little critter turned up, I have no idea what it was, but my wife vacuumed it! Looks to me like a false Widow, Steatoda nobilis from the shape and the 'messy web'. Originally from the Canary Islands I'm aware that it is becoming an increasingly common spider, often turnin...

millerd wrote:I think I must have been a victim of windy weather on Sunday - only one of the many old chalk pits had any butterflies at all.

Yeah, sorry about that Dave, the weather plays a big factor in these things and on the day i was there it was perfect.

There was a time not so long ago when Isabella would've run a mile at the mere sight of a spider :roll: . Now she gives them pet names :) . If she continues like this in a few years time I can see the house being given over to tarantula's scorpions and the like :shock: :cry: Where did I go wrong :!:...

Hi Rob Just to let you know last year I saw Brown hairstreak at Noar hill on the 15th of August nectaring on the flowering heads of Hemp Agrimony. I've already been this year on the 1st of August, lured early by the numbers of BH general sightings and the fact that most species are appearing earlier...

Dear Susie Thanks for organising a great day out, me and the girls really enjoyed it, (even though I missed the boarding party and made a wrong turn having never been up to the 'east end' before). Denbies always throws up surprises. For me it was Silver-spotted Skippers (only the second time I've se...