....and the bug is Eurydema ornata, the Ornate Shieldbug, a recent colonist of the south coast of England.

M.

The larva may not be on the wrong food plant as suggested. Some of the continental literature mentions Hazel as a food plant,and I have myself seen the larva on Hazel in Slovenia. I have often wondered if Hazel is ever used in this country, so your find is of paerticular interest to me.

M.

There are two very similar species in the family Crambidae:Eurrhypis pollinalis and E.guttulalis. I'm not sure how to separate them.

M.

I'm surprised I'm not seeing any mention of sightings of Peacocks. i have been seeing newly minted Peacocks since 22 June. Interestingly I have not seen any feeding. On the contrary males have been holding territories just like hibernated Peacocks or hutchinsoni Commas. I look forward to a second ge...

The burnet larva is most likely the Narrow-bordered 5 spot Burnet.

M.

The burnet is Zygaena lavandulae the Broom Burnet or Zygène de la badasse !

M.

Saw a Small Copper this morning on the Bournemouth east cliff nectaring on Sweet Alison.

M

26 March. Despite a troublesome wind I decided to have a look at the Southbourne cliffs today. Small Coppers are often out by now, and of course I could not rule out a Clouded Yellow. In the event no Coppers seen, but I was cheered to see my first Clouded Yellow of the year, just one day later than ...

The pretty little moth appears to be Amephana aurita.

M.

I'd say it's Purple Viper's Bugloss Echium plantagineum.

M.

Looks like an early instar Grass Eggar. The ever helpful http://www.lepiforum.de has a photo (No 7) on its Lasiocampa trifolii page that resembles your cat. An excellent find, by the way.

M.

For the spider I'd go for Neoscona adianta.

M.

The blues are good for Lorquin's. The bird dropping moth is the Pale Shoulder Acontia lucida, and the geometer is probably either Idaea serpentata or I. ochrata.

M.

Sylvie I bow to your superior expertise in Odonata. but one thing bothers me. In my field guide (Dijkstra and Lewington) it is stated that in brunneum the face of the adult male is whitish with a blue hue as opposed to dirty pale brown in caerulescens. This is why I opted for brunneum in this instan...

I think it belongs to the genus Sceliphron, known as mud daubers. They prey on spiders.

M.

The pale bluish face points to Southern Skimmer Orthetrum brunneum, rather than Keeled Skimmer.

M>

Caveat emptor. Anyone tempted by Leraut's book flagged up by Guy be aware that the NHBS is asking for £97.99. It's a snip for £79 from Pemberley Books.

M.

This looks as though it ought to be easy to identify, but I can't see anything in Porter that convinces. Not an Orache, I'm afraid. See lepiforum.de/lepiwiki.pl?Trachea_Atriplicis.

M.

I'm with Tony here. It's really just an illustrated (not very well) and annotated check list. The idiosyncratic systematics unconvincing. I find it difficult to know who it's intended for.

M.

I agree with Guy that the blue is idas, because it is apparently laying on a Chamaecytisus shrub, which is the sole larval foodplant of the loca sub-species baldur.

M.