Back to Pevensey Levels

On Saturday I went for a slow meandering walk to see what has been emerging from the ditches on Pevensey Levels, with a particular focus on damselflies and dragonflies. The first find of the day though were two male Wall butterflies battling it out along a field edge, each trying to out-circle the other in order to claim the best territory.

 

 

Wall (Lasiommata megera) (male)

 

 

The next action of the day was to rescue a ewe that had got stuck on her back, her two lambs dutifully sitting next to her. Once righted, they ran off together without any word of thanks.

Down amongst the ditches it was clear that Variable Damselflies had been emerging for a few days with a mixture of mature and teneral adults on the wing.

 

 

Variable Damselfly (Coenagrion pulchellum) (male)

Variable Damselfly (C.pulchellum) (female)

Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) (female)

I also spotted a Chinese Character moth fly into a hedge to roost. No bigger than a thumb-nail, the survival strategy of this species is to disguise itself as a bird dropping when at rest.

Chinese Character (Cilix glaucata)

In my wealden garden this morning, the moth-trap produced one of my favourite moths. The Chocolate-tip is a member of the Notodontidae family, a group that are generally adept at disguising themselves as broken twigs, tree bark or dead leaves when at rest. This mornings specimen was a little worn and so the photograph is of one I took in 2014.

Chocolate-tip (Clostera curtula)