as well as the skipper laying in eggs in the front garden yesterday i had the pleasure of the company of 2 pine hawk moths in the garden last night after dark.

is that a hint of another butterfly behind the one pictured

i am suffering the same quandry. I got home from work today to find this little one egg laying in the front "lawn" if it is it will be a garden first. and at least the 8th breeding species for the garden with out a nettle in sight. Chuffed

look like willow sawfly. Nematus salicis
Chris

thank you susie 4 more til the half century...

puss moth caterpillar

Chris

glad to see peacock back in the garden this evening.

first Grayling of the year, Stephens castle, Verwood. and my first silver studs.

count me in.

according to Roberts field guide female (which yours is) bipunctata 4.5-7mm, measurements I believe are taken nose to tail shall we say. doesn't include legs at all. yours looks gravid, so could be why she looks bigger.

Chris

agalenatea redii for your spider Lee.

Chris

not a great deal to go on with the wings closed like that. but if I had to guess (not a definitive ID) my guess would have to common marbled carpet.

Chris

I would say bipunctata, you can just about make the white stripe down the back in the first picture. and according to the Natural history museum website "This is an entirely harmless species and is not implicated in bites"

Chris

apologies as I am about to go non- butterfly, makes a change for me I know.... not. Anyway, not necessarily my favourite photo of last year but probably one of the most important I may have ever taken. Let me introduce Erotettix cyane, cyane.JPG otherwise known as the pond weed leafhopper. I know we...

I should know the first, but your second caterpillar I think is Old Lady,

Chris

look like Brown Tail moth to me.
Chris

i have learnt something new from this thread...... had to look up epicurean
900 square yards is a fair ol' area and i wish you the best of luck John. do you have any pictures of the field in flower?

Chris

I don't know how effective it is but doesn't yellow rattle knock grasses back? though I believe it doesn't like fertile soils. Also being pedantic, aren't you doing exactly what the conservation bodies are doing by destroying a "habitat". surely something feeds on the grass? as I said in m...

I did have a reply typed out last week but I must have taken too long. so I will try again. and you not only are you not out of line but you are not alone :) you will know if you have looked at my diary that I too am a bit more of a generalist as opposed to Lepidoptera only. expert in none I hasten ...

Don't believe everything you read Hoggers From Butterfly conservation Website "Washout 2012 was the worst year for UK butterflies on record with 52 out of the 56 species monitored suffering declines, a scientific study today revealed." and yet the progeny from last years "washout"...