Hi Bugboy,

I think they are Common Carpet and Silver-ground Carpet. The Common Carpet just looks slightly paler than average, but they are variable.

regards

The first looks like an early Vapourer caterpillar - the eggs are laid around the cocoon of the flightless female. The Arctiidae could be White or Buff Ermine (correction: White Ermine, or possibly Muslin or Ruby Tiger. Can't pin it down and not sure how much variation you get with these)

I think the transect count at Hockley Woods for the past 3 years has declined.

Fair summary, Essexbuzzard. It's always difficult to be certain, as we continued coppicing around the edges which produced some good cow wheat. But the main area was static and seemingly brushcut for too long. We switched to rotation cutting in the last few years, but ultimately on heavy soil, it wa...

Heath Fritillary 2015

Yes, it is a Jersey Tiger.

I thought Scarlet Tiger too. UKmoths says they feed on Comfrey, amongst other plants. A friend saw them recently on Alkanet, also in the Borage family.

Saw 4 male Wall Browns today along the sea wall east of Burnham-on-Crouch (Essex) towards Holiwell Point. It's a poorly recorded stretch of coastline all the way up to Bradwell-on-sea, but it's still the highest count here for decades. Encouraging. Also a couple of possible Painted Ladies, but headi...

It's one of the oil beetles. The photo looks good but i don't think identification is always straightforward. I would think someone on here will get it, but try your county recorder in any case - could be an important record.

the female illustrated (photos Perry Fairman) might be a better match for Large Tortoiseshell not Scarce (the paler patches adjacent to dark splodges). Jack I think you're right, Jack. There can be paler areas on the Scarce, too. From what I can gather, it's best to look along the whole length of t...

There are excellent annotated photos of Large and Scarce Tortoiseshells on the Sussex sightings page. I've also noticed that the fourth spot on the forewing of the Scarce can sometimes be very faint, virtually absent, but all the photos of Large Torts on this website show a conspicuous fourth spot. ...

I'm amazed that you can find such small larvae. Very well done, Bob.

I welcome the Christmas pressie break – gives me a chance to think up an answer to Neil! My understanding from the Maes et al Study is that they believe that the decision to diapause or develop is made ‘early doors’. So, whilst Neil’s Mill Hill 2014 scenario is fine in terms of the time line and wea...

I see the suicidal third brood as being about the progeny of the second brood rather than the progeny of the third. This has been the problem in the southern half of the UK for perhaps the last 20+ years. The comparison is with the Wall's closest relative, the Speckled Wood which has a similar life ...

Hi Badgerbob, Our newsletter article was entitled "Wall Brown - 2 and 3 broods ‘Good’, 2.5 broods ‘Bad’?" as we thought that full broods (either 2 or 3) would result in good over-wintering success of larvae. So I will be watching your web sightings with interest. We too had what must have ...

Hi David, I too have found difficulty in explaining the Wall's virtual extinction from the north-east and Central Essex Coast; once strongholds of the species. Its continued presence along the North Thames corridor (I.e. South Essex Coast) may be short-lived and it is only just surviving the develop...

Neil, Thanks - that's a really useful observation from the Sussex Downs. Your area fits more with the Mediterranean model as you have south-facing downland next to north-facing escarpment, both with long continuity of habitat. This is really good news if the idea is correct as one or tother will alw...

We did some work on the Wall Brown for our branch newsletter (Cambs & Essex) in 2011 as we noticed a shift in phenology both over time (last 2 decades) and between ‘Fenland’ populations in the north and ‘coastal’ populations in the south along the Thames. We also got some help from a couple of e...

Thanks for sharing this, Roger. Tremendous work. Interesting how the eye spots on the emerging Glanville formed a little face before the wings fully unfurled. Quite useful in that first minute.

Just to point out, the Devil's Dyke in question is the one in Newmarket on the Cambs/Suffolk border. It's SW-facing and the branch manage the grassland twice a year. This Sunday is the next work party, so we are hoping that the weather holds. It will be a bizarre feeling if we actually see one in ea...