Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Sunday 2 March 2008

Birch

Part of the wider art of entomology is finding and identifying early life-stages on their host plants. This requires a certain level of botanical knowledge. Sadly, my botanical skills are somewhere between poor and hopeless, but even a leaf-blind flower-failure like me can identify Silver Birch!
I like birch - I find the straggly uniform trunks of a dense stand aesthetically pleasing. I'm sure there is some deep-rooted psychological theory about this but quite frankly I don't give a ..
Anyway, these shots are from along Kinchley Lane on the fringe of the quarry. This is an excellent place to look out for Orange Underwings - they should be flying about in sunshine from mid-March for a couple of weeks or so. They are usually seen flitting about the tree-tops until later in the afternoon when they may descend.

Birch

More Birch

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