1 x Painted Lady.
Bright, sunny and hot.
Suddenly, the Scaly Male Fern is covered in Common Blue Damselflies. I'm not sure what was so attractive about these plants. The first shot is of a male in the process of gaining its final colour. They start off pink in their newly-hatched - 'teneral' - state and appear to colour up from the tail forwards.
The females are darker and have a number of forms. Here are two of them:
And finally, a shot of a flying male with a kink in his tail. The shot doesn't show the deformity properly. The kink was to the right, and not downwards as it appears.
A lone male Large Red Damselfly was also on the fern.
Lots of colour today. This is the Elephant Hawk Moth.
I find it hard to believe that such a wonderful beast is native to this country.
I found a tiny plant of Field Forgetmenot in the entrance to a field.
A fine orange-tailed Ichneumonid landed and cleaned its antennae before basking in the evening sun.
I've seen this purest white micromoth in previous years, but never managed a decent picture. Elachista argentella.
A pair of Lochmaea caprea - the Willow Leaf Beetle. On Willow.
