Purple loosestrife weevil
I had a great day today out on one of my favourite pieces of heathland at Iping common. When i first started photography I thought heathland was very boring compared to the species rich chalk grassland and ancient woodland I had been enjoying, but I really couldn't have been more wrong! Although the obvious number of plant species is far less, those which grow there are so interesting such as the insectivorous Sundew I blipped a few weeks ago and the number of interesting insect and spider species is actually staggering.
This tiny 1.5 - 2mm weevil Nanophyes marmoratus, is known as the Loosestrife weevil as it feeds exclusively on Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria, and is quite common here in the south and is not a heathland specific species. It is one of the tiny species of weevil easily identified in the field which is always a bonus, due to it's colourful markings.
I also found two quite different and colorful caterpillars which I have put in my dwindling extras. The first (green one with splendid white 'tails') is I believe a Speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria, a common butterfly I see often, but whose grass feeding larva I have never seen before. The second is the colorful punk of the moth larvae the Sycamore moth Acronicta aceris always a great find in my opinion.
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