Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)

Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus

Spent an evening at the local 'insect patch', if you've not already gathered, this reserve is fantastic for insects. The photograph above is of the Helophilus pendulus hoverfly. This hoverfly is one of the 4 commonest hoverflies which are all related. They can be distinguised by having a yellow and black striped thorax and their pale hind tibia.

Palm oil flowchart

Those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis know my views on palm oil, those of you that don't, well.... palm oil has big impacts on the environment and is unfortunately in most products that we use on a daily basis and I do all I can do to reduce my intake of it. The flowchart below caught my eye and sums up where palm oil comes from and where it ends up!

Spring displays

To my readers: I'm spent a bit of time drawing this while watching Wimbledon the other day, I hope it is of use to you. I took the design from RSPB's Birds magazine and thought it was quite useful.

The drawings are of breeding displays of the 5 breeding species of larks and pipits that can be seen in the UK.

Pipits have a parachuting display where the bird rises to the air and then descends rapidly back to the ground whereas larks have a more elaborate and looping display and tend to fly higher than pipits.

A piece of summer

It finally felt like summer was here last week but it didn't last long, a day or so and that was all. The clouds and the rain have been at the forefront, is climate change to blame here?

While the sun was out a few pairs of Common Blue Damselflies Enallagma cyathigerum appeared so I took the opportunity to photograph them:

Common Blue Damselflies

North Norfolk holiday 12-18th June 2012

A thoroughly enjoyable week in North Norfolk in the middle of June, knocked up a fair few species of birds, but there were a shortage of insects most likely due to the dreadful weather conditions that the whole country had to embrace for months on end.

Species seen:
Reptiles:

• Adder Vipera berus 
• Common Lizard Lacerta vivipara  

Male Common Lizard

Butterflies:

• Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas 
• Speckled Wood  Pararge aegeria 
• Swallowtail Papilio machaon ssp britannicus 
• Wall Brown Lasiommata megera

Swallowtail

Birds (heard only):

• Green Woodpecker Picus viridis
• Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur

Birds (seen)
(There are 88 altogether but I'm just going to name a few):

• Barn Owl Tyto alba 
• Cettis warbler Cettia cetti
• Common Buzzard Buteo buteo 
• Common Crossbill Loxia recurvirostra 
• Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea  
• Dunlin Calidris alpina
• Dunnock Prunella modularis 
• Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus
• Gadwall Anas strepera 
• Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
• Little Egret Egretta garzetta
• Little Tern Sterna albifrons 
• Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus 
• Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus 
• Nightjar Carprimulgus europaeus 
• Song Thrush Turdus philomelos 
• Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia 
• Woodlark Lullula arborea
• Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella 

Male Reed Bunting

Juvenile Bearded Tits

  Mammals:

• Brown Hare: Lepus capensis
• Chinese Water Deer Hydropotes inermis
• Common Seal: Phoca vitulina
• Fallow Deer Dama dama 
• Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 
• Water Vole Arvicola terrestris  

Chinese Water Deer

  Insects:

• Black Tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum
  
• Blue-Tailed Damselflies Ischnura elegans 
• Common Blue Damselflies Enallagma cyathigerum 
• Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata
• Glow-worm Lampyris noctiluca 
• Norfolk Hawker Aeshna isosceles 

Four-spotted Chaser

Glow-worm

Plants (currently trying to learn these):

• Deadly Nightshade Atropa belladonna 
• Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum 
• Orange Hawkweed (Fox and cubs) Hieracium aurantiaca
• Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare