The Lyons Share

Glanville Fritillaries were incredibly easy! We saw them within 10 m of the car and then at every spot we stopped at along the south coast. There were lots of them too, many still very fresh and I was really amazed at how confiding they were, probably the easiest butterfly to photograph. The top photo was taken by Jo, I really love this action shot. It's definately my new favorite butterfly! Other species in the area included Small Blue, Dingy Skipper and the attractive moth, Scoparia pyralella. I had no luck looking for Cliff Tiger Beetles though.

My first ever visit to the Isle of Wight was preceded by a very early trip to look for Bog Orchid (thanks to some gen from Steve Gale). I saw it really as a reccy as I was not expecting to find it, but, there it was! Yet another tick!

I even had a new species whilst waiting for the ferry, Common Ramping Fumitory! I end the day on 3400 species.

I have updated my list on the listing page but include it here too, to show where the increases have been over the last two months (68 beetles!). Mark Telfer has put together some rules for pan-species listing which also includes allowing specimens of invertebrates identified from traps to be part of your list. I can totally see why this is the case but my list does not include any such records yet and this might mean a significant increase if I add them on but I'm not sure I want to. Anyway, here is the list as of 31st May.