Tag Archives: Green-veined white

244/366 Butterfly magic

31 Monday Aug 2020

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To celebrate – or, perhaps, to mourn – the last calendar day of summer, here’s a tribute to some of the beautiful butterflies I’ve seen in recent days, just because, when they’re gone, I’m really going to miss their magic.

200831 comma

A Comma doing what they do so well when their wings are closed – blending in.

200831 green-veined white

Most of the white butterflies I’ve seen lately have been Small whites so this Green-veined white stood out from the crowd.

200831 meadow brown

Here’s another that stood out – an aberrant Meadow brown. There always has to be one!

200831 painted lady

The heat wave a couple of weeks ago seems to have brought in a small influx of Painted ladies, though nothing like the numbers we had last year.

200831 red admiral

Have you ever noticed how much Red admirals like blackberries? And their colours blend in to this background rather well.

200831 small tortoiseshell

Small tortoiseshells have been having a good year locally, which has been a real treat. I even found two feeding on Red valerian right at the edge of one of the local beaches this morning.

200831 small copper

A delightful surprise from Saturday’s walk at Cosmeston, a pristine Small copper.

202/366 More misc minis

20 Monday Jul 2020

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Some snippets from the insect world around me:

200720 common red soldier beetles

A sure sign that it’s now high summer, Common red soldier beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) can be seen everywhere, especially on the flowers of umbellifers, demonstrating why they are often called bonking beetles.

Also caught copulating, these Green-veined white butterflies (Pieris napi) were being annoyed by a third of their kind, trying to get involved in the action.

200720 small copper

On the subject of butterflies, the second brood of Small coppers (Lycaena phlaeas) is now on the wing. This stunning specimen was only the second Small copper I’d seen this year, so was a very welcome sighting.

200720 nettle weevil

There’s nothing cuter than a weevil. This one is, I think, a Nettle weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus).

I found this odd: a colony of ants, farming a horde of aphids on this ragwort plant, have extended their nest up the very stem of the plant.

200720 meadow grasshopper

To finish this post, first, a Meadow grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus) nymph and …

200720 long winged cone-head nymph

… another nymph, also often a meadow dweller, this time a cricket species, a Long winged cone-head (Conocephalus fuscus).

164/366 ‘Flowers that fly’

12 Friday Jun 2020

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‘… flowers that fly and all but sing’
~  from ‘Blue-butterfly Day’, a poem by Robert Frost

These are some of the ‘flowers’ that have been flying around me this week, causing my heart to sing.

200612 comma

Comma, one of three seen on Tuesday’s walk

200612 green-veined white

Green-veined white

200612 large skipper

Large skipper, a butterfly with attitude

200612 meadow brown

Meadow brown, from a count of 54 in a single meadow

200612 speckled wood

Speckled wood

122/366 Species 10

01 Friday May 2020

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With the current restrictions on movement, my butterflying has got off to a slower start than usual but today I spotted my first Green-veined white butterfly of 2020, my tenth species for the year, during my walk around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park.

200501 Green-veined white (1)

This pristine male only appeared briefly, before disappearing amongst the leafy trees, but it was a joy to see him. These spring-brood Green-veined whites are often very pale – I can’t even see the small dark spots on his upper wings and he has only a hint of yellow colouring on his undersides. The summer brood, when they emerge in July and August, usually show darker markings – I’ll try and do a comparison post later in the year to show the differences.

200501 Green-veined white (2)

Birding at Peterston & Pendoylan Moors

12 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in animals, birds, insects, nature, walks

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Yesterday I enjoyed another wonderful, if rather hot day’s birding with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, this time wandering a trail alongside the River Ely near Peterston-super-Ely and Pendoylan.

180711 2 red kites

On the way there, my friend John and I had incredibly close views of three Red kites and more of these magnificent birds of prey were gliding overhead during our walk.

180711 1 stock dove

We saw Stock doves (one pictured above) sitting obligingly close to Woodpigeons so we could see the differences in the two species.

180711 2 red fox

A Red fox was spotted trotting along in a distant field, its lunch in its mouth.

180711 4 meeting the locals

A large herd of large cows moved reluctantly away from the river so we could pass by. You’d have to be crazy to mess with this lady, who was keeping a steady eye on us in case we ventured too close to her calves.

180711 5 participants

The fifteen participants … well, fourteen really, as I was taking the photo.

180711 6 river ely

The meandering River Ely was running low due to the recent drought conditions here in south Wales.

As well as birds, we also saw lots of butterflies, including these: Cinnabar caterpillars, Comma, Green-veined white, Meadow brown, Peacock, and more Small tortoiseshell than I’ve ever seen in one day before.

180711 7 sandmartins

The highlight of the day for me was watching these Sand martins hawking for food over the fields and then returning to their burrows in the river bank to feed their hungry young. Magic!