Friday, June 17, 2011

Slow Progress ...

June is falling apart (I was reduced to looking for water beetles today, albeit Agabus brunneus which is the H20 beetle equivalent of the Large Tortoiseshell, and in a Heath Fritillary combe on Exmoor to boot). Note that the Met Office predicted a wonderful June (they should be impaled on Nordick walking poles and used as bait for iris).

The only other sightings reported are of two chasing males at the Hill Farm sacred grove at Bookham Common on Thurs 16th (Rob Hill), where one was seen on Mon 13th, and Susie's possible sighting in Southwater Woods on Wed 15th.

The race for second place is therefore still firmly on ... we may all come in second on Sunday...

Re Susie's sighting. Distant momentary sightings are difficult. Some are iris, some are camilla, some are atalanta, some are paphia and some are wonderful hallucinations. With anything better than distant momentary sightings, if you're in any doubt it is not iris!

Re 1893. The best account I have of that remarkable summer is in a horticultural book, but it was a cracker.

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