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Tag Archives: Arlington Reservoir

Banded demoiselles

01 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, walks

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Arlington Reservoir, Banded Demoiselle, British damselflies, Cuckmere River, damselflies

One of the many highlights of my recent walk around Arlington Reservoir in East Sussex with my friend Jill was being able to get quite close to several pairs of Banded demoiselle damselflies (while simultaneously heeding Jill’s warning that if I fell in the stream – actually the Cuckmere River – she wasn’t going to rescue me – ha!).

180801 Arlington stream

And actually this was off the main Arlington trail, as there was an old church that looked interesting not far away and we’d headed off down a public footpath towards it.

180801 Banded demoiselle (1)

Although I’ve seen a number of Beautiful demoiselles at my local nature reserves in Wales, I haven’t seen any Banded … and they are such gorgeous creatures, especially the bright blue males when they’re flying. Makes me believe in fairies!

180801 Banded demoiselle (2)

If you’re ever in the area, Arlington is a lovely place for a walk, with colourful and insect-rich wildflower meadows and plenty of birdlife, just the right amount of exercise in its circular walk and a cafe with icecreams at the end.

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Marbled whites

21 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Arlington Reservoir, British butterflies, butterflies, Half-mourner, Marbled white, Marmoress, Melanargia galathea, West Park Local Nature Reserve, Woods Mill Nature Reserve

The week before I went down to visit my friend Jill in East Sussex I thought I spotted a Marbled white butterfly at Lavernock Nature Reserve but it flew off before I could get close and I couldn’t find it again.

180721 Marbled white at Arlington

In Sussex, a Marbled white (Melanargia galathea) was the first of seven new species of butterfly I saw in just seven days, and I managed to see three of them at three different places. The first was at Arlington Reservoir, the second at Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Woods Mill Reserve, and the third was at West Park Local Nature Reserve near Uckfield.

180721 Marbled white at Woods Mill

According to Patrick Coulder’s book A Natural History of the Cuckmere Valley:

… 200 years ago, this butterfly was known as the half-mourner, because women then wore black and white dresses during the period of ‘half-mourning’ which followed full mourning for a dead relative. Its name then changed to marmoress, meaning ‘marble-like’, and finally about a hundred years ago it became known as the marbled white.

180721 Marbled white at West Park

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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