Phil Eyden's Wildlife.
- 28 June 2009 21:3624694Ditto Phil - i couldn't find a uk reference to them being here !Been nice knowing you :)
- 29 June 2009 05:5124700Maybe it flew out of that American's wallet !!
Great pics.
Roger - 29 June 2009 10:5624716This is the Heath Fritillary, one of the UK's rarest species of butterfly. They are confined to just a few colonies in the UK (mainly Exmoor, Essex and Devon) and probably only number a few thousand specimens in this country. Fortunately for us Blean Woods Nature Reserve just outside Canterbury is one of the very few colonies left and this year the numbers are up. They thrive in coppiced woodlands where cow-wheat grows, quite specific conditions.
This beastie my have nothing to do with Dover, but I thought it might be nice to show a picture or two given it's rarity and threatened status.
- 29 June 2009 11:1224717Thanks for posting the great photos Phil.
- 29 June 2009 11:2324719Update, just had it confirmed that my mystery moth is not the Eight Spotted Forester as suspected, but is the scarce micro White Spotted Sable Moth (Anania funebris).
Even so, this is another species in serious decline and is known from just 16-30 kilometre squares in Britain. They do look very similar!
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=3566 - 29 June 2009 18:5324735Phil, your pictures of the enormous variety of moths in the UK are pretty amazing, my favourite so far is the Humming Bird Moth, Awesome
- 1 July 2009 11:4224809Thanks Barry and Jeane. Watch out for those Hummingbird Hawk Moths, at least one has been seen in the town area in the last couple of weeks.
There is some nice pond life at Connaught Park at the moment. Here are a nymph of a Water Boatman eating a fly, a tiny frog which still has a stump of its tadpole tail, and a pond skater. The slow worm is from my backgarden in central Dover.
- 1 July 2009 19:0324818Phil stunning pics once again. Well done young fella me lad
email: dover7@msn.com - 2 July 2009 09:3824853Loving these latest photos Phil, everyone a gem, I am becoming quite the wildlife buff now, thanks to you Phil
- 2 July 2009 19:3124885Oh wow phil some really great pictures as usual, its the first chance I've had to look in on them but have to say they are a pleasure to look at.
- 2 July 2009 21:2424889strange to think that these sights are available to us all.
the difference, as philip once said, is just having the enthusiasm to want so see them and the patience to lie on one's belly and wait for them to appear.
i remember attenborough once saying that when he travelled to film something he took all identical clothing in his luggage.
the reason being that there were such long gaps between capturing something on film. it gave the look of continuity.
end product, we watch a half hour programme from him and think that all the action happened in that half hour rather than 6 months. - 2 July 2009 21:3924896Another part is always having a camera of some sort with you
Been nice knowing you :)
