Wednesday 24 August 2011

Arbroath Cliffs to Carlingheugh Bay

These photos were taken on a slightly colder day along the path from Arbroath to Auchmithie over the first section of the route which still has areas cordoned off due to landslides.

The Six Spot Burnet Moths mostly had pale orange spots which I assumed meant they were recently hatched, there were one or two with the distinctive red spots.

I'd seen Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Green Veined Whites and Ringlets the previous day but the cold had reduced these numbers. An unidentified butterfly seen previously turned out to be a Grayling.

There were still reasonable numbers of Bumble Bees but many later on were affected by the cold wind and weren't active. The Hoverflies didn't seem to be suffering the same, and there are photos of what I think are a Drone Fly, a bee mimic and another which mimics a bumble bee.

I can't say that I have definitely identified the Pipit correctly, the decision was made on size, the Rock Pipit is roughly a third heavier than the Meadow Pipit. The other similar bird I've decided could be juvenile Skylark or a Meadow Pipit!

Six Spot Burnet Moth, up close and personal


Six Spot Burnet Moth


Buff Tailed Bumble Bee


Volucella bombylans Hoverfly

This Hoverfly is an obvious Bumble Bee mimic

Volucella bombylans Hoverfly


Drone Fly Hoverfly

This Hoverfly is a mimic of a Honey Bee

Drone Fly Hoverfly


Scaeva pyrastri Hoverfly


Heath Bumble Bee, I think


Red Admiral Butterfly, Photo Richard Webster


Painted Lady Butterfly


Grayling Butterfly


Field Grasshopper


Rock Pipit


Skylark juvenile or Meadow Pipit??


Eristalix pertenax Hoverfly


Thursday 18 August 2011

Murton Insects

A couple of hours enjoying the sun at Murton and some half decent pictures of various insects. I also took some interesting video of a pair of Damselflies which were paired with the female depositing eggs onto a reed just below the water of the back pond. I'll need to find a good video editing program to edit clips before I can post them here though.

Although there is a rich variety of wild flowers at Murton, many don't produce large amounts of pollen on large flower heads and getting pictures of butterflies flitting from flower to flower can be difficult. All of these here except the Cinnabar Caterpillar were taken at distance using the zoom.

Meadow Grasshopper


Common Darter Dragonfly, Female


Small Copper Butterfly


Common Blue Butterfly


Marmalade Fly on Unscented Mayweed


Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar, on Ragwort as usual


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