Sun 14/07/2019

Plume moth - more specific than that, I will not dare.
Plume moth - more specific than that, I will not dare.

We went out to the lavender fields at Castle Farm in Eynsford this afternoon. I had some hopes of finding some great green bush crickets at the top of the hill there, because I am sure I have heard them there before, but I couldn’t hear a thing today – maybe it’s just that my hearing has gone west. On the other hand, I did find this little plume moth – I get the impression that it is not a common plume moth, but I have not been able to identify it for certain from my books. I stuck it up on Twitter, but no one else came back with an ID either.

 

There were also some orchids growing in the verges; I remember these from last year. Again, couldn’t say for certain because there are two or three very similar common purple species, but I think these might be pyramidal orchids. One is shown below:

Orchid
Orchid

Walking down the hill, I was captivated by this incredible damsel fly that flew across the road and settled sporadically in the hedge. It is only the second time I have seen a demoiselle; they are a stunning metallic green and at least twice the size of most common damselflies. I think this one is a female; the species are quite easily distinguished in the males because the beautiful demoiselle has brownish wings, whereas the banded demoiselle has a thick dark band across the wings. The females of both species are very similar though, lacking either of these distinguishing marks. However, I lean towards the banded, because a little later on I saw a male banded fluttering about the stream at the other end of the site. I couldn’t get near enough to photograph it, although I did manage a short video at a distance.

Female demoiselle damselfly
Female demoiselle damselfly
Ladybird Scymnus interruptus
Ladybird Scymnus interruptus

 

Later on at home, I got my ladybirds out of the fridge. Yes, you heard correctly – ladybirds often come into the conservatory at home, including some very small species indeed. There’s no chance of me seeing them clearly without taking some macro shots and blowing them up, but unfortunately they are quite energetic little things and won’t keep still for a moment, so my photos are always absolutely rubbish. I sometimes stick them in the fridge for a day or so to slow them down, but they defrost remarkably quickly so it doesn’t often make much difference. This time I did manage to get some reasonably sharp ones though.

Ladybird Scymnus interruptus
Ladybird Scymnus interruptus

I found 4 of these in the conservatory a couple of days ago and captured two of them. It can be seen that the amount of red is quite variable, nevertheless I think these are both the same species, Scymnus interruptus, because I have caught them several times before. These are tiny for ladybirds, only a couple of millimetres long. The individual in the two top photos below has less red than the one in the bottom two.

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