Early High Elms

Conservation Field, High Elms, with cowslips, 21 April 2015.

High Elms Country Park looks bare at this time of year because so much has been mown or grazed.  This has mixed results, but it does allow a lot of early flowers to flourish where they might otherwise become overgrown.  This is what they call the Conservation Field, taken with my iPhone, full of cowslips.  This composition isn't great, being pretty much bare in the middle ground, but I wanted to get a cowslip in focus.

Cuckoo Wood with bluebells.  High Elms, 21 April 2015.

Here's a similar shot of a beautiful bluebell wood, also part of High Elms.  The iPhone is limited as a camera, but very good for taking photos that you can then email to someone straight away.  But I also had my proper camera with me.

Common Dog-violet, Viola riviniana.  Burnt Gorse, High Elms, 21 April 2015.

Violets are flourishing just now; in fact some of them are already over or hard to find.  The chalk meadow at Burnt Gorse has Hairy Violets, a chalk-loving species, but when I went on 21st April I could only see hundreds of these Common Dog-violets.  Their distinguishing features are: a light coloured, notched spur behind the petals; pointed sepals; leaf-stalks not noticeably hairy; and large sepal appendages, one of which you can just see here sticking up where the flower stalk joins the flower.  There are four common wild violets, some of which can be hard to tell apart unless you check all these details.

Bee-fly, Bombylius major.  Burnt Gorse, High Elms, 21 April 2015.

This Bee-fly was just interested in whether it had nectar.  It is a fly that looks and acts like a bee, though bees do not have that long sharp-looking snout.  They are a pleasant sight, buzzing about in Spring and hovering by flowers.  This shot shows that the fast-moving wings may be holding it up, but it is also positioning itself and perhaps being steadied by its legs; so it's not a fully committed hoverer like a hoverfly.

Some common flowers are about in the woods.

Garlic Mustard, Alliaria petiolata.  High Elms Country Park, 21 April 2015.

The young leaves of Garlic Mustard are usable as a salad plant.   It's also called Jack-by-the-Hedge, which accurately tells you where else you can find it.

Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum.  High Elms Country Park, 21 April 2015.

Herb Robert grows all over this area, mostly in woods and hedgerows.  At the back left is a rosette of Wood Avens leaves. They are also very common and will flower later.  In fact, there is some in the previous photo too.

Toothwort, Lathraea squamaria.  High Elms Country Park, 21 April 2015.

Toothwort only grows near trees, usually Hazels, because it is a complete parasite.  It has no chlorophyll of its own.  It is a very early flowerer and its season is almost over.  This specimen only has a few open flowers left, and most of those I saw were completely finished.

West Wickham April Moths

Lunar Marbled Brown.  In the West Wickham Common light trap on 15 April 2015.

Last time we were able to put out the trap in April on West Wickham Common we only caught two moths, both Oak Beauties.  They are nice enough, but that was a meagre catch.  This year we had a second chance and it was a warm night .. there were nearly 100 moths, and ore than 40 of them were this species, the rather pretty Lunar Marbled Brown.  Here it is on measuring paper.

Lunar Marbled Brown.  In the West Wickham Common light trap on 15 April 2015.

The lines are at 5mm intervals.  It is of the family Notodontidae, which typically have those beautiful antennae and furry forelegs. 

We picked up one scarce specimen:

Dotted Chestnut, Conistra rubiginea.  In the West Wickham Common light trap on 15 April 2015.

Not really rare, but nice to see.  It was quite lively and I was only just able to focus and shoot before it scuttled off the edge of the paper. 

This next one looks superficially like the Lunar Marbled Brown, but the antennae are tucked away and the legs are less furry.

Brindled Beauty, Lycia hirtaria.  In the West Wickham Common light trap on 15 April 2015.

The Brindled Beauty is from the large family Geometridae.  We also had one representative of the Nolidae, an Oak Nycteoline, an unremarkable-looking moth except from the front:

Oak Nycteoline, Nycteola revayana.   In the West Wickham Common light trap on 15 April 2015.

When it looks rather menacing.  And there were some micromoths.  This green one is of the family Tortricidae:

Acleris literana.  Near the West Wickham Common light trap on 15 April 2015.

It is a little aged and worn.  It stood out on the paintwork, but among lichen it would have been invisible.  (Mothers would say "It is a Tortrix," and my rather convoluted phrasing is intended to give the full correct family name.)

And the last one, family Eriocraniidae (yes, two i's together) which can be seen flocking in oak woods in Spring.  The larva feeds as a leaf miner on oaks.

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella.  Near the West Wickham Common light trap on 15 April 2015.

Those vivid purple dots only stand out like that in the camera's flash, but then they are a useful pointer to identification.  Lots of moths are about this size and shape.

Herald and Plumes

Herald, Scoliopteryx libatrix.   In my garden light trap on 15 April 2015

When I put out a trap on my small balcony, I catch a different range of moths than when it is sheltered down below.  Most are the same, but I get more micromoths and a few beauties.  This is such a moth.

The Herald overwinters as an adult, and comes to light in the spring, showing its dead-leaf shape and beautiful autumnal colours in quite the wrong season.  Hibernating butterfiles also have dead-leaf disguises, but none quite so lovely.  I photographed this on one of my collection of bark backgrounds.

I am also seeing some plume moths.

Common Plume, Emmelina monodactyla.   Near my garden light trap on 9 April 2015

This Common Plume was on my garden seat, resting in its typical geometrical shape.  Plume moths roll up their wings like umbrellas when at rest, giving this T-shape.  (You might also notice that my garden seat has a thriving population of very tiny beetles, as small as a moth's foot, not identified.)  Here is a slightly more fancy plume moth:

Beautiful Plume, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla.   Near my garden light trap on 9 April 2015

The Beautiful Plume does not furl its wings quite so tightly, leaving gaps at the end between fore and hind wings.

This year I also saw a March Moth for the first time.

March Moth, Alsophila aescularia.   In my garden light trap on 24 March 2015

It's not rare, but there are so many species of moth that often it's pure chance whether one comes to my trap.