Not so much Painted as Faded and Jaded ladies

 We seem to have had quite an influx of migratory Painted Lady butterflies this spring, but they’re now looking like Faded and Jaded Ladies. In order to preserve my personal safety, I will decline the chance to say more…

Ever since I was told that buttercup flowers are very attractive to a species of tiny wasp, I have tended to glance at them as I walk along, and recently noticed this cracking little Swollen-thighed beetle sitting in a flower close to the boardwalk.

We’re already back in Himalayan Balsam pulling season again, starting with an hour-long session on Sunday 31^st May. Your usual correspondent having come up with an implausible excuse for not joining in, we’re grateful to Team Leader Julie for this account:

“We had 11 volunteers this morning. Mostly ‘old hands’ at Balsam but we did have a few new to the task, including an 11 years old Brownie (and her mum) who had contacted us about volunteering to complete a nature badge. Our young Brownie was a natural at the task spotting the Balsam with ease and showing mum what to look for.

We were in Area X today and all managed to get back out again safely, which is always a bonus!

There was nowhere near as much to collect as last year, which is testament to the great efforts over many years to pull it up before it can seed. Not as exciting as when there are loads but very satisfying to know we are slowing its progress over the Common.

We had a quick look over at Area A and found very few there either - just a muntjac grazing!

So we called it a day after an hour. We still managed a decent amount collected.

Our special Brownie was a little disappointed with the amount she had collected. But as we pointed out, each flower can produce over 800 seeds which it can disperse over 7m away. So even if you only collected 20 you have prevented a potential 16,000 plants from growing! I think that’s a job well done!

I did snap a lovely moth, but it was only happy to have a picture of its face not the wings!!

I also snapped one of the few orchids this year on the central area…we suspect the muntjacs are munching on them.”