Last weekend I met up with some friends and had a walk around Wat Tyler CP. On the sea wall we found a scarce species of plant: Bupleurum tenuissimum, theSlender Hare’s-ear. On its leaves was the rust fungus Puccinia bupleuri, which is only recorded from a handful of UK sites.
I was lucky enough to have a close encounter with a fox a few weeks ago. After eating some rubbish it proceeded to have a good clean right in front of me. It had something caught in its teeth too.
While at Thursley Common we came across this lizard sunbathing in the open on some flattened grass, I’ve not seen one in this sort of basking spot before.
A quick photo of a scarce emerald damselfly, the last one I saw this year.
A few weeks ago in Wat Tyler CP, there was a patch of thistles covered in marbled white butterflies.
A few posts ago I posted a video of my garden hedgehog. Well a couple of nights ago I spotted it and want out with the camera and got his shot.
On Wednesday I popped up to Fingringhoe Wick and got some nice photos of willow emerald damselflies Lestes viridis. There were a few mating pairs around too. I also finally got a photo of a brown hawker, my odonata nemesis! A ruddy darter male posed. And a pair just about posed on some bramble.
I was walking through Wat Tyler Country Park yesterday, when I flushed a yellow butterfly from the path. I saw the darker flashes on the wings and new it was a clouded yellow butterfly, which are usually a migrant from Europe. Eventually it landed and I managed one good shot in the sun before it…
In my garden I found some interesting looking poo: it was either cat or hedgehog. Thankfully, after setting up my Bushnell trailcam, baited with some peanuts, it turned out to be a hedgehog. But I got an unexpected bonus when it stopped for a scratch, with comical results!
A few shots of a pond olive mayfly nymph. This species is the one most commonly found in ponds. I managed some shots of the underside too.