Popped over to Mill Hill to see if I could catch-up with the Grizzled and Dingy Skippers reported earlier in the week; unfortunately the weather wasn't playing ball so only managed a few sightings when the sun shone through the clouds: 3 Dingy and 2 Grizzled Skipper sightings, though they may well have been the same individuals as never saw more than one at any one time. The Grizzled was looking very fresh. A few ok-ish photos below but as they only ever seem to rest low to the ground, I couldn't avoid the distracting vegetation. How does Neil Hulme manage to get them all so nice and isolated?!
A highlight however was meeting Jake Everitt and finding/learning about a nationally scarce moth (Pancalia sp) and a fungi (Cordyceps gracilis) that grows out of a caterpillar! He also found an Adonis Blue Caterpillar, which was a new one for me.
As I was about to leave I nearly stood on a couple of adders, one brown and one stunning black Adder (both were at the foot of the slope towards the southern-most corner, close to the hedgerow.
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| Dingy Skipper |
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| Grizzled Skipper |
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| Pancalia sp. the red list one I believe |
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| Cordyceps gracilis, a rare parasitic fungi which grows inside the Common Swift Moth Caterpillar (it is buried underground in this image) |
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| Adonis Blue Caterpillar (to be confirmed) |
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| A gorgeous Black Adder |
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| And a Brown one |
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