Wildlife May 2011

[Maggi Young]

I've never seen one either, Robin.... googling it tells me it is meant to be common.... not round here it ain't!!

 Super photo... the intricate lines around where the wings "attach" are fascinating... like a living cantilever bridge.....

[Ragged Robin]

Yes, it's supposed to be at home in the New Forest and easy to photograph!  Your description of the pattern is great...it really is boldly designed not exactly elegant  

Now I want to find them all!!!!!

http://www.newforestdragonflies.com/DFbroadbodied.html

[Peter Maguire]

Lovely photograph Robin - you need to find a male now, the difference is that the abdomen is powder-blue - definitiely not a hornet!

Maggi,
using stone age technology (a.k.a. a book) it seems that whilst they might be common, they don't really get further north than Yorkshire, and they're only really common in southern England/Wales. I've never seen them round here either. There is a four-spotted chaser, similar body shape, duller coloured body, but with yellow-infused wing bases that does occur in Scotland, mainly on the western side. I saw some on Rannoch Moor last year.

[scatigaz]

I first saw this species here in South Yorkshire some eleven years ago and is now well established and fairly common. Not seen one yet this year but wont be too long now. One of my favourite dragonflies.

[Roma]

I saw a Small Copper butterfly two days ago and a Red Admiral today, but neither stayed still long enough for a photo.

[Anthony Darby]

This moth was in the Moonlander trap this morning. It's a slender burnished brass (Thysanoplusia orichalcea) and first appeared in New Zealand in 1984. It's alternative names associated with its caterpillars were probably coined by the different people it offended: soybean looper, cabbage semi-looper and sunflower semi-looper.

[annew]

How does it semi-loop then?

[Anthony Darby]

How does it semi-loop then?

I suspect because it's a noctuid and not geometrid it has more false legs so just rattles along like a normal caterpillar but arching its back somewhat. Geometers are called inch worms in the States and they are true looper caterpillars because they only have four false legs. http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5499597869_a2ce68bd7a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/acamaloz/5499597869/&usg=__GrrketvPCucGvRN1HvzLjnyhhRA=&h=500&w=333&sz=86&hl=en&start=16&sig2=kocranaRz6vzszPM7BjFEg&zoom=1&tbnid=uxYn1QDjz7VSlM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=92&ei=OFjOTfbLGom4sAOF3vW9Cw&prev=/search%3Fq%3DThysanoplusia%2Borichalcea%2Bcaterpillar%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1034%26bih%3D751%26tbm%3Disch0%2C400&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=515&vpy=304&dur=164&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=100&ty=166&page=2&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:16&biw=1034&bih=751

[mark smyth]

lovely moth. I think I had one of those or like it in my garden last year

[mark smyth]

Scottish game estates want to be ALLOWED to kills birds of prey and corvids 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0116lfs/Fair_Game_Scotlands_Sporting_Estates/

[ArnoldT]

Looks like  Araneus diadematus.  I discovered them and ran to get the camera and they were scattering.

What does one call a collection of spiderlings?

An internet search says a  "cluster"

[Maggi Young]

What does one call a collection of spiderlings?

 with all those legs..... "a tickle"??

[Anthony Darby]

Must have been a big egg batch?

[Neil]

Saw this caterpillar on my Raspberry bushes today, does anyone know what variety of moth butterfly it is?

[Anthony Darby]

That's a lackey moth caterpillar (Malacosoma neustria). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lackey_moth