Small Heath ovum

[Tony Moore]

Spent the day chasing Small Heaths around Prees Heath, looking for a laying female. Two major problems: they are not always easy to sex on the wing, so you end up following big fresh males, and the females bury themselves deep in the grass to lay. A couple of times I watched a female apparently preparing to lay - they look very twitchy and give a couple of tiny wing flaps before crawling into the grass. I actually saw a curled abdomen a couple of times, but was unable to locate an egg afterwards (possibly a non-laying trial?). Eventually, I got lucky and found an egg after a minute search lasting several minutes! They don't give up their precious bounty lightly.

Tony Moore.