Gait barrows, Lancashire

2 Northern brown argus
1 high brown fritillary
3 dark green fritillary
10 painted lady (freshly emerged)
6 small tortioseshell
8 large white
5 small white
7 peacock
2 comma
1 holly blue
1 possible purple hairstreak

50 Pyrausta cingulata 2nd gen
20 Pyrausta purpuralis 2nd gen

southern hawker
migrant hawker
brown hawker
common darter

high brown fritillary

dark green fritillary

Northern brown argus ; Only 5 -10% show a white discoidal spot in populations in northern England. More usually a black spot or a black spot with a faint white ring around it.

Northern brown argus

Painted lady

southern hawker

Common darter

Some fauna and flora of The forest of Bowland Lancashire,

1 Merlin
7 red grouse
2 little owls

10 large heath
1 drinker
20 catoptria margaritella
100 agriphila straminella
100 + small white butterfly

1 golden ringed dragonfly
6 large red damselfly


Large heath butterfly 'polydama' form
A young little owl

red grouse

A female drinker moth

sundew

Moths and butterflies of Formby Point.



This small grass moth was find of the day . It is Crambus pratella and it is the first confirmed record of this moth in Lancashire.

Painted lady larvae were found at several places amongst the dunes which is what you would expect after the invasion in the spring. This larva was feeding on comfrey whilst others were on spear thistle.

My first gatekeeper of the year

This leaf mine was on horse chestnut. You can see 2 mines which have the larva of Cameraria ohridella, the horse chestnut leaf miner. It is only a recent colonist to the UK which is rapidly spreading north from where it was first found in Wimbledon in 2002

Feeding signs of Mompha sturnipennella on rosebay willowherb

adult Cinnabar moth. Thousands of black and orange larva were feeding on ragwort.

Six spot burnet