Stomorhina lunata, Melanostama mellinum, Ectophasia crassipennis, Long-tailed Blue (x3), Long-winged Conehead (female), Xysticus app, mirid bug Lygus pratensis
I finally caught up with Stomorhina lunata, the Locust Blowfly, north of the park and west of the A3 with four individuals on dandelions. Precious few hovers but this Melanostoma mellinum stuck out.
At Sustainability many Xysticus spiders were hunkered down on dandelions and Achillea waiting for prey; one with a bee for lunch wasn't feeling photogenic and slipped away.
There were also plenty of these mirid bugs, Lygus pratensis which I've irecorded; interesting to see if they are accepted or felt to be spp only.
The TH WhatsApp group came up trumps, with special thanks to DS for site info, for Long-tailed Blue butterfly. When in Sussex I never 'twitched' the Brighton/Shoreham etc insects and indeed thought, until two days ago, that it was a species I'd seen in France. But no, they were Short-tailed and Provence Short-tailed. So these on Portsdown were lifers. An initial group of people some distance off sat on the ground were, I assumed, butterfly watchers but turned out to be the local constabulary dealing with an issue!!
But another camera toting individual directed me towards the bench which was and had been the focal point of LTB action for a couple of days.
This particular individual (above) was very cooperative, a second was a brief fly through. Several day-flying Vapourer Moths were obvious and some Meadow Browns were still on the wing. And as always lately Red Admirals were everywhere.
After my first encounter with Ectophasia crassipennis at Pulborough a few days ago, I was surprised to bump into this mating pair just in front of the LTB. Will I see more this year??
And finally, this female Long-winged Conehead sat still for some of us. The only downside was having to watch where you stood and especially knelt due to the dog t***s everywhere!!
Perhaps, given some large winter thrush arrivals recently, two people had a couple of Ring Ouzels a few hundred yards to the west of the butterflies.
