The Butterfly Effect

After walking my daughter to school this morning I was pleased that the sun was shining and decided to take a short walk around the lake, due to the butterfly effect, no not the film (which I both enjoyed and got scared about, I watched it twice and there were two different endings, quite concerning when the film is all about time travel changing the past!!) but the fact I kept chasing butterflies further along my patch, may short walk ended up with me walking to Bradwell Abbey.

The Butterfly Effect

The bird life was much the same as the last two days, plenty of migrant warblers, there were an extra couple of Garden Warblers in, as well as yesterday’s Reed Warblers but there were no Willow Warblers today, but other wise the sound was dominated by Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs.

The Mute Swans are not occupying their nest as much as I thought they should I keep passing and the nest is empty but the birds are back when I return passed, it is quite a worry especially as there seem to be quite a few people heading down to watch them at quite close quarters sometimes (perhaps a sign should go up asking people to give them some space). I guess we will see how many of the eggs hatch.

It was also nice to see Buzzards again (a pair I think) soaring together although one appear to be missing it’s tail which gave it a huge appearance in the clear skies.

Campion – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

The Micro Life

It was butterflies and bugs that ruled today though, I recorded 5 species of butterfly, mainly Orange Tip, but plenty of Brimstone and Green-veined White, a few Peacocks and the odd Small Tortoiseshell.

Brimstone – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

Green-veined White – Lodge Lake, Milton Keynes

Orange Tip – Lodge Lake, Milton Keynes

Peacock – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

4 species of Ladybird – 14 Spot, 7 Spot, 22 Spot and Harlequin (not a bad haul really) Photos below, however the 22 spot (a new one for me) the photo is not included as it is not great (not even in focus really) but useful for ID still.

7 Spot Ladybird – Great Holm, Milton Keynes

14 Spot Ladybird – Great Holm, Milton Keynes

Harlequin Ladybird – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

I also saw my first Odonata of the year in the form of a Large Red Damselfly (2 I think – sorry no photos).

There appeared to be plenty of Bees, Flies and Hoverflies around as well.

St Marks Fly – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

And a good number of shieldbugs of which I saw two species (plus one which isn’t a shield bug technically but sure looks like one) I managed Common Green Shieldbug (there were lots) Hairy/Sloe Shieldbug (a few) and loads of Dock Bug (they were everywhere). I also had a couple of small beetles which I have yet to identify (they may even be the same species but the colour looked different to me).

Common Green Shieldbug (mating) – Great Holm, Milton Keynes

Dock Bug – Great Holm, Milton Keynes

Sloe (or Hairy) Shield Bug – Great Holm, Milton Keynes

Unknown beetle – Lodge Lake, Milton Keynes

Unknown beetle 2 – Lodge Lake, Milton Keynes

Flowers

It must be said it was also lovely to be out in the sunshine with all the spring flowers bursting out, especially the Bluebells and and Campion (the mix of garish pink and subtle purple blue is really pleasing on the eye) well to me anyway.

Bluebells – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

Campion – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

Unknown White Flower – Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes

Moths

Oh and just to add insult to injury I found a caterpillar today that I am pretty sure is a Drinker, this is a moth I would love to see but yet I have never done so.

Drinker Cat Face on – Lodge Lake, Milton Keynes

Drinker Cat – Lodge Lake, Milton Keynes

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