Butterflies

When we first arrived in this part of Suffolk we were shocked that, on the many walks we made, we saw so few insects, putting this down to the use of insecticides on the large, intensively farmed fields that are the norm here - see earlier post here.

While the paucity of insects remains a concern - a simple measure of the volume of insect life is the 'splat test', the number of insects squashed against a car windscreen after a journey, described in this article in the Guardian - the local butterflies and moths seem to be doing fairly well in this warm summer weather.

A move such as the one we have done gives us the opportunity to meet a whole new range of wildlife. Taking butterflies as an example, we've seen most of the species we had in Scotland and several new ones, including this gatekeeper, three of which were chasing each other around our allotment this morning.

Small skippers are thriving on the mallow that grows along the hedgerows, a plant which is also enjoyed by....

....the holly blue. There are several species of these very pretty blue butterflies.

It's good to find new species but it's also heartening to meet old friends. This is a day-flying moth called a burnett which, at first, we thought was the same as the one we used to see in Scotland, the six-spot burnett, but it isn't. At a guess, it's a five-spot burnett, even though only four are clearly visible - check at this link.