Excellent Vince, superbly illustrative and well executed images. Very impressive.

Piers.

Not been a great year for Small Heath and Common Blue around here, so far as I have seen :? Not brilliant on the South Wilts Downs either Nick, and now the emergance is getting old I am surprised that the adonis blue numbers have been fairly modest, even on the best down land sites; certainly when ...

I should have added, Mike, that it's a stunning and rare find - well done you...

Assuming it was laying when you saw the moth, I guess the first thing to do would be to narrow the list of possibilities down to those species whose larvae feed on galium... (such as Susie's suggestion )

The switch made in the early 1970's from an annual hay crop to a bi (or tri) annual silage crop (with copious application of high N, P, K, fertilisers betwixt harvests) has probably done as much to harm our lowland grassland ecosystems than anything else you could care to mention. Most are cut as ti...

I'm glad you have a sense of humour Sooze :wink: Arthemis arthemis looks so unlike anything that graces our shores I don't doubt your identification for a moment. An escapee of some form or another is the only plausible explanation. It would be great to see the pic though if you're able to blag it. ...

Any pics available?

It's a common blue for certain (I say "it's" as it looks to be the same individual in both images).

Small elephant hawk moth? They behave much like hummingbird hawk moths; zipping around, hovering at flowers while they sup nectar with their lengthy proboscis, and are a similar size to hummingbird hawks aswell. We are lucky to have a few in the garden at the moment and they are particularly partial...

Chris that's amazing, your shed deserves SSSI status! Ero are a heroic group, absolutely fascinating. More spider action please Chris!

with only a short walk arond the forest this weekend i thought i'd have a look for my neglected spiders :) this one has only 61 UK records (this is my third, but first outside of the garden) and looking at this camouflage is it any wonder. I only got to it by following the silk. Anyway UKB meet Ara...

There are still a few fresh-ish females on the South Wilts Downs as well...

That's very disappointing to hear Nicholas, particularly in a year when the species generally appeared to have benefited from a few consecutive favourable seasons with excellent numbers at the best sites.

Piers.

A couple of decades ago, when I was a young innocent in the first flower of my youth, I knew of a couple of colonies in Somerset centred around some long uncultivated hay meadows for which a hay cut at the end of June was an annual event. The tiny larvae would at this stage have been living in loose...

Ok...I have a couple of questions (the obvious ones, naturally!) Firstly, why is it so very battered? Old age? Or has it been flapping at a window/mesh cage for the past few days. And reading down through the comments I saw this "Amazing, one was seen down the road in Clanger Wood ( by Nick Wy...

Fascinating Nick. Thanks for taking the time to compose such a comprehensive response. only a handful of graves are regularly tended and there are only 2 or 3 free spaces available where some family own a plot - we have had 2 burials in the last 12 years. In which case why is it being so heavily 'ma...

Unless dogs have suddenly evolved to use lavatory paper Jack, a visit to the vicinity of Martin Down car park will reveal than humans are already adding their own contribution to nutrient enrichment...!

If only all dog owners were willing to demonstrate such levels of thoughtfulness, consideration, and responsibility as you B.G.

Some of the coffins have collapsed (as they do of course in time) and the masonry has subsided as a result. Does the cemetery have a western wall Nick? and is the area within the western wall free of obvious plots? Just out of interest... Are there a lot of plots without known living relatives? Is i...