А very warm, sunny day, +27° C. Been to Bookham.
Surprisingly few insects around!
Golden-haired Robber-fly (Choerades marginatus):
Eristalinus sepulchralis hoverfly:
Bookham Common
A mostly sunny day, +22° C. Been to Bookham.
Saw a Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae), but couldn’t get a shot. =(
Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris) took over from Hogweed and is now the main umbelliferous insect attractant, with plenty of Hymenoptera and Diptera attending.
Volucella inanis was quite frequent, several seen in different parts of the Common:
Lots of different ichneumon wasps around. Having an idea of how many species there are, I don’t think ID from a photo is possible. Collected several specimens and will give them a try later.
These black-and-yellow ones were the commonest, and they came with either yellow or mainly black faces, different species I suppose.
Bookham Common
A hot, sunny day, +29° C. Went to Bookham to try and photograph the Purple Emperor (Apatura iris). No luck this time, though. Saw one passing high in the tree canopy, but didn’t see any at ground level. I guess I’ll need to get there very early in the morning, to see any within a shooting range =)
Lots of everything there, good numbers of Silver-washed Fritillaries (Argynnis paphia); Gatekeepers (Pyronia tithonus) and second brood Holly Blues (Celastrina argiolus) out already; even saw a couple of wandering Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) females in the middle of the wood! 18 butterfly species seen altogether, if I counted right.
Came across this aberrant Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus):
Felled Oak trunks near Merritts Cottage continue to provide me with photo models =) This time it was a female Four-banded Longhorn beetle (Leptura quadrifasciata):
Bookham Common
The White Admiral (Limenitis camilla) I saw last time I’ve been to Bookham Common, couldn’t get off my mind, so Bookham’s where I went today.
A warm, mostly sunny day, +24° C.
Found an ovipositing female of Stictoleptura scutellata longhorn beetle on a felled Oak trunk (I didn’t know they have such long ovipositors):
Bookham Common
A very warm, mostly sunny day, +23° C. Been to Bookham Common.
There’s a lot of felled oak trunks on the Common, left to encourage xylophagous wildlife. Plenty of Agrilus sulcicollis jewel beetles on them. The species is a relatively recent addition to the British list, although it may have been overlooked:
As well as many ovipositing Lymexylon navale ship-timber beetles:
Bookham Common
A good, warm, sunny day, +24° C. Wanted to go to Box Hill — but there was a signalling failure on the line and all the Dorking trains terminated at Leatherhead. So, I activated Plan B and went to Bookham.
Lots, LOTS of Common Malachite beetles (Malachius bipustulatus) everywhere:
Seen some Small Coppers (Lycaena phlaeas):
Bookham Common
Been to Great Bookham Common today. Saw several Dyseriocrania subpurpurella and one Heliozela sericiella. Speaking of butterflies, only those that overwintered — Peacocks (Aglais io), Commas (Nymphalis c-album), Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta) and Brimstones (Gonepteryx rhamni).
Usual spring stuff around. Bombylius major:
Bookham Common
A warm (+26° C) and sunny day. Been to Bookham Common.
Saw a couple of Clouded Yellows (Colias crocea):
By the pond there were bucketfulls of Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) males:
Bookham Common
Been to Bookham Common today.
A female Minotaur Beetle (Typhaeus typhoeus), one of the dung beetles, this one seems to prefer rabbit dung:
Vlad Proklov's wildlife blog 
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