The Lyons Share

Do you like Baileys? Well you'll like this Baileys-coloured Meadow Brown I saw at Southerham this week, all creamy beige! OK, Mighty Boosh references aside now. It looked quite odd in flight and took me a little while to figure out what it was. It was quite tatty but it's definitely not just ware and tear making it look like this. I would guess at leucistic. Interestingly, the paler orange centres to the wings of a typical Meadow Brown were in fact darker than the surrounding wing area in this specimen. It would seem the orange pigments were not so strongly affected by the genetic abnormality as the darker browns were.

23/08/2011 UPDATE: I've been informed that this is in fact not a leucistic individual but a rare aberration called cinerea. Thanks Piers!

Also, Southerham is the only place I have ever seen Greater Duckweed growing in the cattle troughs! A species I usually associate with the better end of ditch quality on sites with good ditch flora.

I think Old Gregg might actually be living in there. Watcha doin' in my waters?