Damselflies
The photo above shows the three types of ‘blue’ damselfly typically found at the Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits Reserve. The damselfly on the left is a Common blue, which has a characteristic mushroom shape on the...
Category: Species
Hazel dormice decline
The following press release outlines the extent of the Hazel dormouse decline since the millennium: Britain’s population of hazel dormice has fallen by a third since 2000 – a rate of decline equivalent to...
Helleborines
As if orchids weren’t complicated enough, I decided to find out more about helleborines which, to someone like me, are a bit more mysterious than those I usually come across. Infact, despite knowing we...
A waiting game for this year’s broods
Now that we’ve had some decent weather, the last couple of days, several butterflies have woken up from their winter slumber and the question now remains when the newly emerged butterflies, from this year,...
Autumnal butterflies
There are still a few butterflies about but they are becoming increasingly difficult to find. The Comma, in the featured image, was spotted at the Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits this afternoon. Most of the migrants, such...
The search of a rare day-flying moth
John Gavaghan set out on a quest to find a rare day flying moth, the Heath Rivulet, after reading in Argus that it had only been found at one site in our county, and...
Moorland Caterpillars
On walking the moors up near Meltham on Wednesday we were surprised to come across many small, furry caterpillars in the grasses up there. Checking our moth book on my return they looked like...
Small Copper Aberrations
There are several common genetic aberrations of the Small Copper butterfly and Anne Riley found this great example of ab. caeruleopunctata, which expresses additional blue markings on the hindwings, at the Otley Wetlands Reserve. These can...
Grassland insects
I saw my first Northern Brown Argus of the year at the Long Ashes site today. Conditions weren’t ideal but it is nice to see them back. They are quite small butterflies and look...
Dingy Skipper
Nigel Heptinstall found a Dingy Skipper on the 27th May at Thruscross Reservoir on the East side of the reservoir. Dingy Skipper has been found at the site in the past and we would...
