Tuesday, 14 March 2023

The Meadow

These photos are from several visits to my favourite local meadow. It's along the clifftops above Weston Mouth. I believe that it is specially managed as a traditional hay meadow. If only there were more like it! I visited a lot in the early summer of 2020 with all the restrictions on travelling that were in place at the time. In late June it was absolutely swarming with Meadow Brown butterflies, definitely the most I'd ever seen in one place. There were thousands! Plenty of other insects too...

In early June the dominant flower is Ox-eye Daisy, later to be replaced by Knapweed...

...very popular with the pollinators.

Eighteen Meadow Browns

An aberrant Meadow Brown with a partially white hindwing.



Standard version


Meadow Brown and Five-spot Burnet Moths
 

Meadow Brown - Maniola jurtina


Dingy Skipper - Erynnis tages


 Large Skipper - Ochlodes sylvanus


Small Tortoiseshell - Aglais urticae



Small Skipper - Thymelicus sylvestris
 
 
Seven-spot Ladybird - Coccinella septempunctata
 

Musk Mallow - Malva moschata
 

Female Green-eyed Flower Bee - Anthophora bimaculata

Male Green-eyed Flower Bee -
Anthophora bimaculata


Yellow-legged Mining Bee - Andrena flavipes

Beetles Galore!


Sand-tailed Digger Wasp - Cerceris arenaria
Also known as the Weevil Hunting Wasp. You can see it in action hunting Weevils in one of my old posts here

A very nice example of cumulonimbus.

 
 



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