Lullingstone Butterflies

Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris.  Lullingstone Country Park, 4 July 2016.

A few butterflies that I saw in Lullingstone Country Park, all on differently coloured flowers.  It was a sunny morning and I saw dozens flying around the meadows. 

The Small Skipper above is a male.  The diagonal mark on the wing is known as the sex brand, and it's the origin of its pheromones. 

Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus.  Lullingstone Country Park, 4 July 2016.

This Common Blue, conversely, is a female.  Female Common Blues are often brownish, sometimes nearly all brown except for a blue tinge to the body hairs.  The males are always a bright blue, so at least the name is partly right - unlike the Small Blue butterfly, in which both sexes are always completely brown.

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae.  Lullingstone Country Park, 4 July 2016.

I only saw this one Small Tortoiseshell, feeding on a Field Scabious.  It was the most colourful butterfly of the day.

Marbled White, Melanargia galathea.   Lullingstone Country Park, 4 July 2016.

On one of the meadows, these Marbled Whites were everywhere.   I also saw Meadow Browns and Ringlets, but didn't get any photos; and I saw a few Fritillaries.  Lullingstone is known to have Dark Green Fritillaries, but I could not get close enough to tell the species, and they never seemed to come to rest, even though I blundered around the grassland for 15 minutes following them.  I finally took this blurry shot below, which is enough to show that my object was a Fritillary, but not which species.  This is just a slice of the photo.

Grassland with flying Fritillary.  Lullingstone Country Park, 4 July 2016

Lullingstone, June 2014

Larva of Peacock, Aglais io.  Orpington Field Club trip to Lullingstone Country Park, 14 June 2014.

A trip to Lullingstone Country Park, led by a botany expert from the Orpington Field Club.  But I always go for the invertebrates with my camera.   One of the group found a whole horde of these black caterpillars in a nettle bank.  They will eventually become Peacock butterflies.

Common Blue Damselfly, Enallagma cyathigerum.  In tandem.
Orpington Field Club trip to Lullingstone Country Park, 14 June 2014.

We saw these Common Blue Damselflies right in the car park at the start, and in this photo they are on the back of someone's coat.  They will eventually loop into a circle while mating, but they fly like this, "in tandem", for a while.

Meadow Foxtail, Alopecurus pratensis.  Orpington Field Club trip to Lullingstone Country Park, 14 June 2014.

There were many meadow plants to see.  Grasses included.  This Meadow Foxtail is a particularly pretty grass.

Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina.  Orpington Field Club trip to Lullingstone Country Park, 14 June 2014.

There were butterflies, and moths too, but I have left out the moths this time.  This Meadow Brown always looks good on a yellow flower.

Field Madder, Sherardia arvensis.  Orpington Field Club trip to Lullingstone Country Park, 14 June 2014.

And this tiny plant, Field Madder, is always nice to see.  It was shortly after this that I broke my ring flash.  Aaargh!  They're expensive.  It was in my bag, and I slipped on a steep slope.  I fell back slightly and heard an unpleasant crunch.  I suppose I was lucky it wasn't me that made the sound .. the plastic casing was broken right through just near the attachment to the top of the camera.  Well, it only took a week to get a new one, and it's a later and better model, so I am not completely unhappy.  But it was annoying that just after the crunch, several interesting micromoths turned up in the undergrowth!

Drone-fly

Hoverfly, Eristalis pertinax.  Lullingstone Country Park, 14 October 2011.

I took lots of photos of hoverflies last year. I think they are particularly beautiful flies, and there is quite a lot of variety among them. Some are tiny and delicate, some are big bruisers.

This one is medium-sized. Several hoverflies mimic more dangerous insects, and this has the common name Drone-fly because it resembles a honey-bee.  Even though it is not brightly coloured, it looks very elegant in different shades of brown.

I will post some more hoverflies in due course.

Lullingstone Country Park in December

Strange growth on a Silver Birch.  Lullingstone Country Park,  31 December 2011.

On the last day of 2011 the Orpington Field Club walked around Lullingstone Country Park. It didn't rain, which pleased us all.

I wondered what we might see at that time of year. It has been unusually mild, but even so, it was the middle of winter. And mild weather works both ways. The bird-watchers among us could normally expect to see winter migrants, but there were few signs of them this year.

We actually found half a dozen plants flowering around the edges of the car park, some quite pretty; Common Field Speedwell, Scentless Mayweed, Groundsel, the indefatigable Annual Meadow Grass. And this Wild Carrot was flowering way out of season; out in the fields there were only the dried flower-heads of the summer's growth.

Wild Carrot, Daucus carota ssp. carota.  Lullingstone Country Park,  31 December 2011.

I am showing the fresh leafy growth and a large bud; there were open flowers elsewhere. Out in the fields we only found two other plants in flower, both looking lonely; a Common Ragwort and a Yarrow. Once we reached the woods, though, there were many interesting sights, including ancient trees and fungi. I thought that this spectacular oak, still very alive in part, looked 1,000 years old, but web sources suggest that 700 years might be a better estimate.

Ancient oak tree.  Lullingstone Country Park,  31 December 2011.

The odd growth on a Silver Birch shown at the top puzzled us; to the eye it might have been a squirrel's drey, except there was nothing to support it. I think it is a large burr or outgrowth, perhaps caused by an infection or a parasite.

It was good to find a nice fresh specimen of this next item, a gelatinous fungus called Jelly Ear. Perhaps you can guess from its scientific name what it used to be called. It is quite common on old Elders.

Jelly Ear, Auricularia auricula-judae. Lullingstone Country Park,  31 December 2011.

Here's another sight that we puzzled over. There was a whole grove of trees with lighter lines snaking up their trunks. It seems likely that this is where snails, or perhaps slugs, have climbed the tree and grazed on the algae growing on the bark.

Strange marks on trees.  Slugs or snails grazing on algae?  Lullingstone Country Park,  31 December 2011.

I have some photos of fungi, lichens and moss from this trip that I will post next time.

Nipplewort

Nipplewort, Lapsana communis.  Lullingstone Country Park, 14 October 2011.

One of the many plants with yellow composite flowers. But this plant has a simple distinguishing feature. It is the only yellow composite whose seeds do not have a hairy pappus, the organ that makes up the parachute of dandelion seeds and other similar wind-borne seeds.

You can see the maturing seeds to the left of the open flower. They seem to spread effectively, even though they can't be distributed by the wind.

Small-Flowered Sweet-Briar

Small-Flowered Sweet-Briar, Rosa micrantha.  Lullingstone Country Park,  14 October 2011.

This is one of the roses whose thorns I showed in my previous post. Although this is not an ideal specimen, it shows some of the features that help to distinguish it from other species; features that I would not have noticed before taking this wildflower course.

There are glandular hairs on the flower stem and even on the fruit, and many glands without hairs on the leaflets.  Their secretions glisten brightly in the light of the camera's flash.  Of the nine species of rose that grow wild in Kent, only the common Dog Rose (Rosa canina) has leaves which are smooth and shiny underneath, and you can feel out very quickly this way whether you are looking at a less common type. 

The sepals are reflexed, folded back along the fruit, and fall early, Here, just one is left.

The photo was taken in bright daylight. The dark background is an illusion caused by the way the photo was taken, with a very small aperture and fast exposure, so that only objects close to the flash show up at all.

Thorns

Thorns of the Short-Styled Field-Rose, Rosa stylosa.  Lullingstone Country Park, 14 October 2011.

The second day of the wildflower course I am attending was a ramble round the park. We were looking for roses, and here are the thorns on two of those we saw.

Roses that form sturdy, upright bushes tend to have deltate thorns like those of the Short-Styled Field-Rose. They do not need to grip, but they still protect the plant very well. On the other hand, climbing roses tend to have thorns which are more like hooks, like the arcuate thorns on the Small-Flowered Sweet-Briar.  "Arcuate" means "curved like a bow," but actually, these look to me more like fish-hooks.

There are several different species of wild rose in Kent, I learned, and other types of prickle, and now that I know what to look for, I expect I will show them here in due course.

Thorns of the Small-Flowered Sweet-Briar, Rosa micrantha.  Lullingstone Country Park, 14 October 2011.

Bumblebee on Greater Knapweed

Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, on Greater Knapweed, Centaurea scabiosa.  Lullingstone Country Park, 14 October 2011.

Another shot taken during my wild flower course at Lullingstone.

Lesser Hawkbit

Lesser Hawkbit, Leontodon saxatilis.  Lullingstone Country Park, 14 October 2011.

I am taking a course called "Discovering WIldflowers" at Lullingstone Country Park. Last Friday we walked around some of the park, looking for roses but not confining ourselves to them.

This is a common enough flower, one of the many yellow-flowered composites that look a little like dandelions. This one looks as though someone has taken a paintbrush full of grey, outlined the sepals are run the brush up the outer petals.

I also took a shot of the flower full on, shown below, but I think the first one is much more pleasant and  interesting.

Lesser Hawkbit, Leontodon saxatilis.  Lullingstone Country Park, 14 October 2011.

Clematis Flowers

Flowers of Old Man's Beard, also called Traveller's Joy, Clematis vitalba.   Lullingstone Country Park.  13 August 2011.

The wild Clematis has two common names. At first you can only see why it might be called Traveller's Joy. The hairy seeds come later.

Wild Viburnum Berries

Berries on a Guelder Rose, Viburnum opulus, at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve on 14 August 2011.

Viburnums are common garden shrubs in this part of Britain, and there are also two wild species which are widespread on chalky ground, often in hedgerows. They are commonly known as the Guelder Rose and the Wayfaring-Tree.

Autumn is nearly here, and like many other species, these two are displaying their berries. You can also see a bramble (Rubus) winding through the Guelder Rose, with ripe and unripe blackberries. There is also a stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, which suggests one should take care in harvesting these fruits. And, although blackberries are sweet and good to eat, Guelder Rose berries are acidic and midly toxic; Wayfaring-Tree berries more so.

The Wayfaring-Tree below was a large and healthy specimen. The berries do not all ripen together, even on the same cluster, and this makes an attractive display.

Berries of the Wayfaring-Tree, Viburnum lantana, in Lullingstone Country Park on 13 August 2011.

Trapped Midge

Non-biting midge, Chironomus luridus, caught in a spider's web.
Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

This midge has been caught in an orb spider's web and dangles there, awaiting its fate. It's not new to this blog; I saw one during a moth trapping session at Keston Common on 5th July. This time you can see the iridescence of its wings.

Taken with my EOS 60D and 100mm macro lens.

Welted Thistle

Flower of Welted Thistle, Carduus crispus.  Orpington Field Club visit to Lullingstone Country Park.  13 August 2011.

Just after posting photos of two other thistles, I twice came across some of these scarcer ones. These were relatively weak specimens; I saw a much sturdier one on Riddlesdown on 2 July, though I didn't get a good photo. Here are the other two I posted recently: Creeping Thistle and Spear Thistle.

Flowers of Welted Thistle, Carduus crispus.  Orpington Field Club visit to Lullingstone Country Park.  13 August 2011.

Lullingstone Country Park

The OFC walking over rolling hills.  Orpington Field Club visit to Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

Lullingstone Country Park.  I have signed up for a plant identification course here this winter (actually it's called "Discovering Wild Flowers"), so I thought it would be interesting to see it in the summer, and the opportunity came with this visit by the Orpington Field Club.

Knotgrass, Polygonum aviculare.
Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

It turns out to be quite beautiful.  Rolling chalk hills, woodland, a river, and a golf course too; these are popular and seem to be common adjuncts to wild areas, as at High Elms; and there used to be one in Jubilee Country Park.

Along the river was an impressive stand of Wild Angelica. Common Blue damselflies moved around in a small clearing  nearby, and we saw them now and then all over the meadows we walked through.  We also saw a large dragonfly later, patrolling along the edge of a wood; it looked like a Southern Hawker.

The fields were still packed with flowering plants, as all local meadows have been since the Spring.  Different types now predominate.  No-one was sure of the yellow flower that was everywhere; one of those that look like dandelions but clearly aren't; perhaps it was a Hawk-bit.  I need to learn how to distinguish those.  But there were many familiar types.

Not wanting to post just a list of plants, I will still name Wild Marjoram, Wild Basil and  Wild Thyme. They aren't the same as the culinary herbs, but the Wild Marjoram has a delicious minty scent when a leaf is crushed.   But one should not pick wild flowers.  It makes a pleasant pink carpet, and butterflies love it.

Small Heath butterfly, Coenonympha pamphilus
Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

Along the way was a single Dark Mullein, distinguishable from other Mulleins by the purple hairs on all its anthers.  It's odd to see single large and unusual plants like this.  How do they survive?  There was also a single Wild Teasel, but it looked dead and might have been left over from last year.

We saw several species of butterfly, including swarms of Small Heaths fluttering around each other, and a single, spectacular Brimstone that fluttered around, visible for some while.  The Small Heaths, Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns are all clearly related; they look very similar from the side, except for their size.

This was a typical Orpington Field Club outing, quite well attended with 22 pleasant people who moved along in fits and starts and small groups examining interesting plants, birds and insects. You can see some of them spread out in the top photo.

The photos were taken with my EOS 60D and 100mm macro lens, except for the wide scene at the top and the full views of the Wild Angelica and Dark Mullein, which were taken with an Ixus 100.

Wild Angelica, Angelica sylvestris.  Orpington Field Club visit to Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

Dark Mullein, Verbascum nigrum.  Orpington Field Club visit to Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

Flowers of Dark Mullein, Verbascum nigrum.  Orpington Field Club visit to Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

Common blue damselfly, Enallagma cyathigerum.  Female.  Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

Wooden snail statue, probably representing a Roman Snail. We saw one nearby.
Orpington Field Club visit to Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.

Common Blue butterfly, Polyommatus icarus, male, on Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare.  At bottom right,
a spray of Red Bartsia, Odontites vernus. Lullingstone Country Park, 13 August 2011.