Tue 31/07/2018

I took the kids out to Jeskyns on this screamingly bright day and spent some time grubbing about in the undergrowth looking for bugs and stuff. Found several second-generation cinnabar moth caterpillars on a ragwort plant; these critters look to be full-grown. Whether they will have time to pupate this season, or whether they are next year’s batch remains to be seen.

I could hear loads of Roesel’s bush crickets around. And was trying to track one down. I did eventually find one but wasn’t able to photograph it; as it happens though, it was right next to not one, but two female wasp spiders in close proximity.

Not much in the way of unusual butterflies, but there were at least some good poses as they were drawn to the small thistle flowers. Down at the bottom are a common blue and a small heath.