It's grassland survey time of year again. The last couple of Saturday mornings, and with a few more to come, I have been at the Aberlady Nature Reserve with my fellow conservation volunteers, rummaging around in the undergrowth. We found sixteen different species in this 2m square site, and in the surrounding area a few other special treats.
The common spotted orchid
a big clump of hairy violet, which was quite a find,
and the Northern Marsh Orchid.
Ragged robin
and viper's bugloss are two of my favourite wild flowers, the latter also beloved by bees!
And here are two firsts for me. For a long time I have known that butterflies love to lay their eggs on stinging nettles, but I have never seen proof of that, until now! We passed dozens of these black caterpillars crawling around on nettles. They are the caterpillar of the peacock butterfly. What a transformation they are will be undergoing!!
Finally, this dainty little thing is a moth. The latticed heath moth, Chiasmia clathrata.
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