Going for a stroll in the woods - searching for butterflies and moths

A long overdue outing in the sunshine... last Saturday

and I went for a stroll around a couple of nature reserves down near in South Lincs (near Colsterworth, south of Grantham)

First up was

, and then across the road was a short walk through a meadow to enter . Baking hot, but cooler under the trees. The butterflies were mostly too quick to photograph, but we still saw some cool stuff!

After parking up, we set out along the main track into Morkery Wood

Tenthredo zona

A Sawfly larvae, seen munching on St Johns Wort flowers. Sawflies are in the same family as Wasps and Bees, and most species of Sawfly larva are 'vegetarian', feeding on leaves and flowers of various plants

Syrphidae species - a type of Hoverfly

Large Skipper Butterfly - Ochlodes sylvanus

There were loads of different butterflies flitting around in the sunshine, Large Whites, Peacocks, Commas, even a rare glimpse of a Purple Emperor, but very few paused long enough to let me take photos!

Black-and-yellow longhorn beetle - Rutpela maculata

There were lots of these striking Longhorn Beetles, and the common name is obvious but a little bit boring lol

Comma Butterfly - Polygonia c-album

Another butterfly who was gracious enough to allow me to take its photo

You can see a small white 'c-shape', or 'comma shape' on the underside of its wing, which gives the species its name

Hedge Wound-wort - Stachys sylvatica

Scorpionfly - Panorpa communis

After a small loop around the wood, we headed back to the car for an early lunch. We were parked in the shade, and sat and ate our sandwiches in the relative cool hidden away from the sun which was getting steadily warmer.

We then took a (very) short drive down the road to the next nature reserve...

In order to get to Tortoiseshell Wood, we need to head down the side of a small wildflower meadow

Crossing the meadow...

It was beautiful in the sunshine, and there was plenty to look at and admire... there were many more energetic butterflies, including at least 6 Marbled Whites, although again you will have to take my word for it as they didn't stop still long enough!

Tenthredo sp - Sawfly

This is what an adult Sawfly looks like, although a different species to the larvae I saw in the previous wood

Thick-legged Flower Beetle - Oedemera nobilis

Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet Moth - Zygaena lonicerae

A clumsy common name for a beautiful and striking insect, plenty of these Burnet Moths were seen, and just this one which paused for a photo

Field Scabious - Knautia arvensis

Burnet Companion Moth - Euclidia glyphica

Really pleased to see this moth, only ever seen once before (approx 7 years ago) and I wasn't able to get a picture, I managed it this time though!

Near the end of the meadow, we found a gate...

...which took us into the Tortoiseshell Wood...

...what will we find here?

Blood-vein - Timandra comae

Ah Ha!

Another moth, this Blood-vein is very easy to identify, with a very distinctive pattern, but this individual made me work for the shot, hiding in distance behind various bits of vegetation...

Common Spotted Orchid - Dactylorhiza maculata

Variable Longhorn Beetle - Stenocorus meridianus

Speckled bush-cricket - Leptophyes punctatissima

Something a little more interesting, this is a type of Cricket but as it is a nymph (and not an adult), I'm not entirely sure which species this is. My best guess is a Speckled Bush-cricket, but I'm happy to be corrected if any one else thinks different

The 2nd wood was tiny, and before we knew it, we had walked around the path inside, and was back at the gate again.

By this point the sun was beating down, and we had had enough of the blazing sunshine. We headed back down though the meadow, and grabbed a couple of sightings on the way

Meadow Brown Butterfly - Maniola jurtina

Red-tailed bumblebee - Bombus lapidarius

All together, it had been a really productive day in terms of sightings, lots of different invertebrates, and different flowers too. I think it would definitely be worth coming back in late Spring next year, and I suspect we'd see even more amazing stuff.

And now, it's time to start planning our next trip. I'm on holiday this week, and so we will be heading down to Kidderminster for a couple of nights. There will be a couple of different reserves to visit, and hopefully I will find some more amazing invertebrates to show you!

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