Tuesday 21st June 2011 - Shenstone

With things being pretty quiet on the patch bird wise, I decided to again focus on the small and take a look at the areas invertebrates.

I started at the set-aside along Butts Lane where on arrival I saw an adult Common Buzzard approach the nest site near Stone Manor with prey and could hear the juveniles calling (great news indeed!).  

The most numerous butterfly on the walk was Ringlet with 10+ recorded.  I also counted 5 Large Skipper, 1 Speckled Wood, 1 Comma,  2 Small Tortoiseshell, 4 Meadow Brown, 7 Small Whites and 2 Green-veined Whites.  Moths were represented by 1 Narrow-bordered Five-Spot Burnett, 2 Six-Spot Burnett, 1 Cinnabar and many Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana).

Other insects of note in the Butts Lane area were 1 ♂ Broad-bodied Chaser on the drainage pond, 3 Common Blue Damselfly and 1 Bramble Sawfly (Arge cyanocrocea)  .

I then checked out the strip of set-aside at Stanklyn Lane.  It was sadly lacking in butterflies but I did record a couple of species of Hoverfly:  Hoverfly (Eristalis arbustorum) and Hover Fly (Syrphus vitripennis).

Comma

Ringlet

Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana)

Bramble Sawfly (Arge cyanocrocea)

Hoverfly (Eristalis arbustorum)

Hover Fly (Syrphus vitripennis)