August holiday to Suffolk part 3

[Philzoid]

And so onto part 3 (am scratching for material a bit now) . The little fellow looks to me to be a female Essex Skipper (I'm sticking my neck on the chopping block as many have done before over this one). The skipper was very un-skipper like (which I assume was due to the slightly overcast conditions) and just sat there posing for her picture.

Female Essex Skipper (I hope)

Note the nice little white 'epaulettes'

Glancing around the patch for evidence of more Skippers I spotted a male Common Blue happily prepared to take on the breeze rather than hunker down. When trying to get a closer look I came across a female which was keeping lower down in the vegetation.
After a little bit of searching it soon became evident that there were around five or six male Common Blues in a patch no greater than 5 metre square. Getting a good photo in 'poor light' with a hand-held Canon DSLR/Tamron 1:2 macro at 300mm was the biggest challenge.
Watching the Common Blues flitting among the tall grass stems was a pleasure . However I only saw the one female in this group and none of the males seemed to be interested in her . The males seemed to be pre-occupied with maintaining their little patches of territory.

'neglected blue'

Returning to the crabbing it was evident that the 'bites' were slowing right down on the outgoing tide. My daughters by this point were getting a little bored and were starting to think about eating (as can often be the case when you're bored ). Francesca in particular was keen for a Cream tea but when we got to the village tea shop all the best garden seats were taken, and more pertinently the cost of £7:50 per head was a shocker to say the least . Remembering there was a cafe at Dunwich that sold such fare (tea; scones; sundae ice creams) I persuaded them that we should move on. Of course the motivation for me was to see if there were any Grayling about .

Parking on the beach car-park we had arrived too late (5:00pm) and the cafe was closing . "Never mind, we'll get a cream tea another day". "How about you go on the beach and make a pebble picture of a Union jack and I will be along to help out in a few minutes" . The kids were very much up for it (their mum less so) and I got 20 minutes of butterflying in .
Remembering my findings from last year I searched an exposed area of shingle and grass close to the marsh area and was able to find Common Blue as expected. Unfortunately photography was impossible as the, roosting 'little flags' swayed back and forth in the wind. However on the seaward bank of Shingle I found a couple of Graylings using their nous in a much more sheltered area. When set up they kept low and went to ground as Graylings do. Finding them on shingle was much easier than the challenge they pose on heaths .... 2-0 to me

The Grayling is one of my top 10

Satisfied with my finds, I kept my promise and mucked in with finding pebbles to finish the flag (took ages to find the reds and whites ).

Perhaps we'll do a Small tortoiseshell next time

The following day was the hottest of the holiday, but rather than go to the beach again or in and out of 'trinket shops' I suggested we head inland to Debenham and pay visit to the tea-pot museum and ceramic cafe. "We could follow this up with cream tea somewhere" . Little did I suspect that it would take so long to cover the miles on Suffolks rural A roads.
On the way in I stopped off at Saxtead Green and visited the post mill

The kids enjoyed the steep climbs up steps through hatchways on various levels, and exploring the nooks and crannies of this 18th century grade II listed building. On the way back to the car I took a direct route across a grassy meadow and came across a Small Copper for this record shot.

We carried on with our journey but when we eventually reached the tea-pot museum it was closed . A nearby 'trinket shop' owner told us " I'm afraid the museum owner's wife has died and he is at her funeral today".
So, we walked into town to check-out two shops recommended for serving cream teas. One didn't have any cream and the other had only two scones . This wasn't our day.
Back at the nick-knack shop we were given verbal directions on how to get to another cream tea establishment called "Crockery Barns". Eager to get a move-on I set off down a twisty backwater road I'd been directed to use eventually reaching the main road ..... and then a warning light came on as the petrol went onto reserve .
So, all change, "lets find a petrol station". So on we drove and drove and drove (anxiety ramping up) on a seemingly endless twisty road until near Stowmarket we found our station.
By the time we got to Crockery Barns it was nearly 14:00.and the weather was HOT. Thankfully cream teas were in the offing as well as the optional extra of a wasp swatter. I don't like killing things but it's the only thing you can do when your kids create such a commotion that is liable to send the crockery flying. This was one of my main jobs on Holiday. The other was ejecting spiders from the cottage bedrooms and bathroom . Is it my misconception or do kids totally freak out in a way that we didn't when we were their age?

Refreshed, re-fuelled and ready to carry on (with a change of plan) we set off for Orford. The kids were keen to go in the castle. Once you get past the customary English Heritage membership sales pitch, you enter a fantastic building of four levels including a basement. There are loads of little corridors and side rooms to explore and the views from the top are fantastic.

I've more or less ran out of butterfly pictures so I'm not sure I should be going on with this
Briefly:- Crabbing on the Orford Quay. Next day packed for home with a couple of stop-offs in Southwold and Aldeburgh. Large numbers of egg laying female Large Whites along the sea front at Southwold (don't quite know what the plant is).

Visit tp the Moot Hall Museum at Aldeburgh where there is an old insect cabinet of moths and butterflies .... not everybody's cup of tea but I do like to look at old collections.

Finally long drive home in torrential rain on the A12 and M25. Next year Tenerife (again).

some common moth pictures to finish with:-

Variable in colouration, lots around now almost as common as Square-spot Rustics

Classy common name as is often the case with moths

Phil

[David M]

The little fellow looks to me to be a female Essex Skipper (I'm sticking my neck on the chopping block as many have done before over this one).

Undeniably an Essex girl, Philzoid.

With experience I'm finding that they appear to have slightly heavier outlined forewing edges in comparison to Small Skippers. Your image shows that off perfectly.

[Philzoid]

Undeniably an Essex girl, Philzoid.

An Essex girl in Suffolk. Thank you for the confirmation David

With experience I'm finding that they appear to have slightly heavier outlines forewing edges in comparison to Small Skippers. Your image shows that off perfectly.

. That is only my second ever confirmed Essex so I've got a lot to learn. That little diagnostic feature should help in the field

Phil

[CJB]

(don't quite know what the plant is)

Hi Philzoid,
It looks like sea spinach, (imho), neck on the block etc!!
Flutter on!
CJB

[Philzoid]

It looks like sea spinach, (imho), neck on the block etc!!

Is that a crucifer Thanks, I'll go and look it up

[Philzoid]

From what I can ascertain the name sea beet is more commonly used for this plant and it belongs to a different family from the cabbages. Perhaps i was wrong with my comment

egg laying female Large Whites

. Wild flowers/foodplants are something I need to gen up on .Time to check the Large white species page.