|
|
Post by peterob on Jul 11, 2023 13:42:55 GMT
I went out hoping for some butterfly and dragon fly opportunities but there was nothing about. I turned to the daily theme and found (after I got back home and saw it on the monitor) that I had captured a Comma! Comma on a mellow yellow foreground.  DSCF4783.jpg by Pete, on Flickr Similarly a white tip bumble bee choosing a rain-sheltered flower to feed on  DSCF4798.jpg by Pete, on Flickr Should have taken the 100-400, the 150-600 mm with minimum focus distance of 2.75 m is really not the right tool for the job but it is internal zoom and it promised (falsely as it turned out) to be very wet. |
|
|
|
Post by peterob on Jul 11, 2023 14:07:40 GMT
Any idea what this is? It was beating its wings very very quickly in flight and was very mobile. Flight wasn't very butterfly like and I wondered if it was a daytime flying moth but had no view of the antennae. I looked through the pages of butterflies and moths (filter = brown) on butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/identify-a-butterfly but it didn't leap out at me. Impossible to see anything while it was moving but it stopped to feed, unfortunately around the back of the flowers for which it was well camouflaged, so not in clear sight, just showing an underwing. I'd say the wing was about 1" long - these are not big flowers.  DSCF4817.jpg by Pete, on Flickr |
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Jul 11, 2023 14:08:50 GMT
Mother Shipton moth?
|
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Jul 11, 2023 14:14:10 GMT
Bingo! It's a Silver Y moth.
|
|
|
|
Post by peterob on Jul 11, 2023 14:27:45 GMT
I found a picture of the underwing of the Mother Shipton and that doesn't look likely. I wonder if it is a very pale comma seen incompletely and at a funny angle. I found some pictures of very pale commas and the "comma" on the underwing often appears against a dark patch although this looks like half a "comma" obscured by an overlay - I'll keep looking but I think it is a job that requires a pint or two of beer - unfortunately that means a trip back out because there is none in the house. |
|
|
|
Post by peterob on Jul 11, 2023 14:31:39 GMT
Bingo! It's a Silver Y moth. Well done. There goes my excuse for a beer  . Thank you very much - very common apparently but I don't think I've seen one before if the mode of flight is typical! |
|
|
|
Post by andy on Jul 11, 2023 15:51:42 GMT
Tenthredo livida, I think....a fairly common and widespread Sawfly.  |
|
|
|
Post by steveandthedogs on Jul 11, 2023 20:30:50 GMT
Lots and lots of legs:
Bombus hypnorum
S
|
|
|
|
Post by stevewmh on Jul 15, 2023 17:22:43 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Jul 15, 2023 18:23:48 GMT
It's been a bumper year for Gatekeepers.
|
|
|
|
Post by peterob on Jul 16, 2023 16:38:33 GMT
It's been a bumper year for Gatekeepers. I saw lots today on another excursion to find some butterflies. This was amongst them and I've been trying to identify it.  DSCF4919.jpg by Pete, on Flickr |
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Jul 16, 2023 16:40:26 GMT
Small copper.
|
|
|
|
Post by peterob on Jul 16, 2023 16:41:45 GMT
Thank you. Edit: a correction, NOT A Female Gatekeeper as I first thought but a Meadow Brown as advised by Martin.  DSCF4893.jpg by Pete, on Flickr |
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Jul 16, 2023 16:46:11 GMT
It's a Meadow Brown, although it's easy to see why people get them confused. The Gatekeeper will have 4 dots on the lower wing and 2 white dots within the black ring on the upper wing. |
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Jul 16, 2023 16:49:06 GMT
Additional fact: The Gatekeeper is often called the Hedge Brown.
|
|
. Thank you very much - very common apparently but I don't think I've seen one before if the mode of flight is typical! 
