GREENWOOD
Nature and the neighbourhood
Painted Lady Butterfly
Posted on August 31, 2022
Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) at the back of Greenwood House. This is an immigrant species that comes in the first place from North Africa and travels on warm winds via Europe to the UK. So far it has been unable to survive the British winters, which means that each year we are reliant on new arrivals for sightings of this beautiful insect. The numbers that reach our shores vary greatly from year to year.
Speckled Wood
Posted on August 16, 2022
Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) seen yesterday on the path leading to the River Cerne in Charlton Down, Dorset..
Ringlet Butterfly
Posted on June 27, 2022
Ringlet butterfly (Aphantopus hyperantus) feeding on a buttercup flower, quickly rotating its position to get the nectar from every petal, and only showing the full identifying pattern of its underwings for a fraction of a second.
Meadow Brown
Posted on June 26, 2022
Meadow Brown butterflies Maniola jurtina (?) feeding on Knapweed and Bramble flowers on a piece of rough pasture at the beginning of the path from the village that leads to Charminster via Wood Hill. The slightly pleated wings of the one individual might indicate perhaps a more recent emergence. Or have I got two species here?
Marbled White
Posted on June 19, 2022
A solitary Marbled White butterfly (Melanargia galathea) was fluttering around the wild area of the CD nature reserve yesterday seeking sustenance. It was going from plant to plant looking for flowers on the Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) but most of them have yet to open.
Red Admiral
Posted on June 25, 2021
A beautiful Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) butterfly, basking in a shaft of sunlight on the tall hogweed flowers to the south of Greenwood House yesterday evening.
Weathered Peacock Butterfly
Posted on April 20, 2021
I have been surprised to notice a couple of Peacock (Inachis io) butterflies around lately. One was in the Community Orchard and the other on Higher Charlton Down. It’s fairly early for them to be out I would have thought. They looked a bit sad and weather-beaten so I guess they may have been overwintering somewhere and have been tempted out on sunnier, warmer days. The recent sharp frosts will have been a bit of a shock to them. I wonder if they will have survived.
The Butterfly Conservation Trust has a lot of information about moth and butterfly identifications, reserves, and the state of their conservation in a beautifully illustrated site.
GREENWOOD 