Monkey Flower

Monkey Flower - Dart's Farm. Native to North America, this species has been present in Britain since the mid-19th century. A new flower for me and a really stunning one, although I've no idea how or when it became established at the fish ponds.

A little flock of 7 Common Sandpipers was flying around Maer Rocks as the tide covered them, early this morning.
Mudbank yesterday - 5+ Mediterranean Gulls, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 11 Whimbrels, 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese and at least 50 Sandwich Terns, difficult to count accurately amongst a large feeding flock of gulls, mid-river. On Wednesday - a Common Tern was the only sighting of note - the first one I've seen for a number of weeks.

I cycled to Dart's Farm after work, hoping to see Small Red Damselflys. As expected, they were concentrated on the small patches of floating weed - none close enough to photograph satisfactorily.

Water Veneer Acentria ephemerella. This is a male. The females are wingless and they live under water! The larvae are aquatic too. I catch lots of these and they're always fluttering weakly around the bottom of the trap, like little 'emphemerel' ghosts - you get the sense it's taken all their energy just to reach the light, although this one flew off quite strongly after it had posed for a photo.

I suspect this might be Phycitodes maritima  but without dissection I think it's best left as a Phycitodes species.

Horse-chestnut Leaf Miner Cameraria ohridella.

 Chinese Character.

Brimstone - Bystock yesterday. At least two Purple Hairstreaks were flying around a nearby Oak but they remained too high for photographs. Really nice to bump into Dave Cope for the first time in years!

Broad-leaved Helleborine.

Blue-bordered Carpet.

Coleophora sp.

Cloaked Minor.