Friday 29 May 2009

Ardeer Brownfield land

No Painted Ladies yet, but 7 Small Coppers were within a couple of hundred metres of each other. A Cinnabar moth was on a patch of dune heath and a Pyrausta purpuralis pyralid moth was in a wildflower-rich woodland clearing. The scortching temperatures saw hundreds of solitary bees and wasps hovering low over the sandy areas - a lot of Sphecodes cuckoo bees in particular.

(Photos: Pyrausta purpuralis; Sphecodes sp.)