All the Leps are brown...

….and the sky was grey. I’ve been for a walk…

…at Aldbury Nowers (which doesn't fit into the Carpenters' song lyrics...at all, even with a crowbar). It's right on the edge of Herts, a SSSI and a chalk grassland. I joined a new friend for a wander and in spite of a serious lack of sunshine, we notched up all things winged & brown, and the occasional splash of colour:

Butterflies
Dingy Skipper 7
Grizzled Skipper 3
Brown Argus 5
Small Heath 3
Orange-tip 11
Brimstone 9
Green-veined White 1

Moths
Treble-bar (Aplocera plagiata)
Mother Shipton (Callistege mi)
Small Yellow Underwing (Panemeria tenebrata)
Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica)
Wavy-barred Sable (Pyrausta nigrata)
Common Purple & Gold (Pyrausta purpuralis)

Dingy, hoping for some sunshine

Grizzled Skipper

Brown Argus

Spot the moth!....a Treble-bar (Aplocera plagiata), I think, judging by this helpful ID tip 

Wavy-barred Sable (Pyrausta nigrata)  on a Common Rock-rose, I think

Small Yellow Underwing (Panemeria tenebrata)  on Common Mouse-ear, its larval foodplant

A Small Blue in Hertfordshire & Grass Rivulets

Hemel (BMT): Living in Hertfordshire, if I want to see a Small Blue (Cupido minimus) butterfly, I hop over the border into Buckinghamshire (as I did last week). Sites like College Lake and the chalk scrub at Pitstone are perfect and reliable.

Butterfly Transect Survey results for 2014 reveal that 78 Small Blues were recorded at Chiswell Green’s Butterfly World, 1 at Heartwood Forest, near St Albans, and 3 near Pirton. That was it for Hertfordshire! It’s not difficult to imagine then my shock when I found one fluttering along the edge of Dellfield meadow at Westbrook Hay in Hemel Hempstead on Box Moor Trust land yesterday!?! I was very glad I wasn’t alone and had a corroborating witness to reassure me that I wasn’t hallucinating. I’m hoping to have the energy to get out again later this week to see if I can find the all important larval foodplant, Kidney Vetch, somewhere nearby (thanks to a tip-off from Liz Goodyear - Herts Butterfly Society). Yesterday's sighting was my first Small Blue in Hertfordshire and also the 30th species of butterfly recorded on Trust land.

Small Blue, Hertfordshire

Grass Rivulet 1

Grass Rivulet 2

Along with the Small Blue, I also caught up with 2 Grass Rivulet (Perizoma albulata) moths, found at the weekend by another keen local lepidopterist. This is a rarity in the County and I first located the colony at Dellfield meadow last year. It was very encouraging to know that the species is still at home amongst the vast swathes of irresistible Yellow Rattle. A female Small Yellow Underwing (Panemeria tenebrata) moth was ovipositing on Common Mouse-ear. And, a quick check at the NE end of Bovingdon Reach meadow was rewarded with seeing the first flowers on the returning Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera). All in all, a fantastic morning!