What is Patton's Tiger?

I have been immersed in natural history since I was 18 and started work at the (then) Wildfowl Trust at Arundel. I met, worked and lived with some brilliant naturalists and a lifetime's obsession was born.
Birding was followed by mothing and the height of 'achievement' was obtained when a moth was given the above vernacular name in recognition of the fact that I trapped the first British record.

Sunday, 10 June 2012

Following in famous footsteps......

When I met Jonathan at the PSL meeting, he told me that he had travelled down via Hartslock reserve to see the orchids. The plan today was to travel to Badgeworth, near Cheltenham, to see the famous 'buttercup'. A lack of geographical sense meant that I hadn't realised how easy it would be to visit this reserve and an early start meant that there was time to spare.
Although I have seen both Lady and Monkey orchids in Kent, the hybrid would be a new species for me.


Although the Lady Orchids were more or less over, the Monkeys still had some flowers left.




The hybrid has much chunkier 'legs' than the Monkey.
















Another new species was the Spiked Shieldbug. Here is a huddle of nymphs.











This rather funky spider is awaiting identification

.......and of course the Red Kites performed superbly!!!


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3 comments:

  1. Jonathan Newman10 June 2012 at 21:41

    Nice work Sarah! The hybrids were pretty impressive I thought.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andrew Cunningham11 June 2012 at 08:05

    The spider looks to be Mangora acalypha with an inverted cricket bat mark. I was shown my first one yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sarah11 June 2012 at 09:26

    Yes! I've had that spider ID confirmed! Thanks for your reply.

    ReplyDelete

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