Sunday 1 June 2008

Dean Bottom

This is an area of farmland near to Longfield, quite a nice short walk loop, through oil seed and wheat fields and then through Churchdown Wood on the way back.

I kicked up this day flying moth in the long grass and I don't remember having seen it before although it isn't that uncommon. It is named after a 16th century Yorkshire witch called Old Mother Shipton. If you look across the wing you can see a caricature of an old hag with a hooked nose.

Mother Shipton


I think these guys are a type of sawfly larva but not sure which one. Still I don't think there will be much left of the host plant once they have had their fill. When I touched the leaf they were feeding on they retracted back into the silk for safety.



Tried to go all arty with the fields of wheat.


Did manage to get a few birds, corn bunting 6, whitethroat 1, cuckoo 1, blackcap 1, chiffchaff 1 and small tortoiseshell butterfly 1.

5 comments:

Josh Jenkins Shaw said...

Cracking photo! I love all the stories behind names of animals!

Steve said...

Great photo of the Mother shipton John. As for the Caterpillars I looked them up in Porter and nearest I could find was Leopard Moth (but dont think this is right) strange as I have just posted a pic of the moth on my blog as I caught 3 last night...

Simon said...

Brilliant photos John.

Warren Baker said...

Corn Bunting!!
What a great bird, did it sing? - One of my favourite sounds.

Anonymous said...

Hi, we live at Dean Bottom and we were really interested to see your photos taken here last year.

Do you have any other pictures or information of the wildlife that exists at Dean Bottom?

Hope to hear from you ,

Nick