Common/Redlegged Storksbill

Erodium circutarium

Today I went on my first walk with a Hampshire butterfly group.  The big draw was seeing an Emperor moth and indeed we did see two.  Sadly they were both flapping around our feet at high speed so good pics were hard to get for all of us.  I had some I might grandly refer to as in focus, but that usually applied to one wing or just the antennae, so they've hit the bin and I must try again another day.  The orange tip and green hairstreak butterflies we'd been hoping for were also absent - in fact butterflies full-stop made no appearance.  It was probably too cold and nectar looked thin on the ground as well.  However, we did come across a fair number of these tiny flowers, which I've never seen before.  They seemed to be thriving on soil which was 99% sand - not the kind of habitat I know at all.

What else did we see?  Tadpoles, newts, grass snakes, a wood lark singing wonderfully from a very high wire and some rather interesting fungi.  Add to that a very nice group of people and it was a pretty good day, despite what was lacking!

Dear WFW folks - I'm really sorry, but I'm pushing the announcement of WFW23_02 hearts back to tomorrow.  I'm not long home and pretty whacked.

So meanwhile, have a great evening and I'll talk later  xx