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Violet and dangerous
Posted by Graeme Lyons , Monday 28 March 2011 22:23
There are more Hairy Violets in flower at Mill Hill than I think I have ever seen. As well as the violets, there were a few invertebrates there that are associated with them. I spotted a couple of tiny Violet Weevils Orobitis cyaneus which can roll themselves up to look just like a violet seed.
There was also a beautiful little orange and black micro moth that after some effort I finally managed to photograph. There were lots of them actually. I think it's Pancalia schwarzella and one of the food plants is Hairy Violet. It wasn't until later that we realised there were probably two species present, the other being Pancalia leuwenhoekella, with obvious white sections to the antennae, which also feeds on Hairy Violet. Both would be new ones for me. However, considering schwarzella is pRDB2 (both photos) and leuwenhoekella is Nb I will get a second opinion. Watch this space! The greatest lesson I learned today though was not to try to attempt Mill Hill without my walking boots, I very nearly ended up at the bottom several times.
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Thanks for the violet weevil tip-off, I must go and look for that. And good luck with the Pancalias, I've never been able to convince myself that I've found anything other than leuwenhoekella, but it's always worth checking out.