Yesterday I set off in reasonable conditions, if you could get out of the breeze, having a little hopeful look for Grayling on my local patch. Since 2008 they have been spotted 3 times in this area with Nigel finding them first and then I discovered them twice more, including last year. It is hoped that a new breeding colony may happen here eventually.
As expected, no Grayling were seen but I was pleased to see 4 Wall Brown females looking as though they were hunting for good areas to lay eggs. One I was able to follow as it flew into an area of long grasses and as I watched it curled its abdomen into the egg laying position and as it flew away I saw a shiny egg left near the top of some brown grass. Not the most exciting image, especially as it is so white when it is new, but it was great to see the beginning of new life.
Wall Brown ova.
Down the bottom of the hill I found a Wasp nest in an Rabbit scrape. It looked as though a Badger had made a bit of a meal of it the night before as there were bits of nest dug out of the bank. The Wasps however were busy rebuilding the nest, probably another meal for the Badger later!!
Wasp nest.
Heading back up the hill I saw evidence of the Painted Lady butterflies starting to emerge with a very fresh individual seen nectaring on Viper's Bugloss. Over the next few weeks we will hopefully be seeing many of these spectacular butterflies, many of them in our gardens as they come in to enjoy the buddleia.
Panted Lady on Viper's Bugloss.