News

News, Events and Notices

Hummingbird Hawk Moths

Kris Codd & Pete Bradley mentioned finding one of these and asked was it unusual? Ian Fletcher said about it ‘The status given in the field guide says they are immigrant, suspected resident, and goes on to say, “a frequent immigrant from southern Europe and north Afric
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Butterfly & Moth

Mrs Hilary Pilcher from Thorley informed us of a ‘Jersey Tiger Moth in my garage on Sunday 23rd July. Also a White Admiral butterfly in the kitchen the week before.’
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Blue-spotted Slow worm

In May Jeff Layfield asked one of our members if we would be interested in ‘a blue spotted slow worm, seen in our Havenstreet garden today’ (we were!). He commented, ‘A web search reveals that this is probably a male of over three years in age and may be found “
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A couple of moths

Gary Taylor sent two pictures of moths from Apse Heath in July and asked us to confirm his identifications. Ian Fletcher, one of our veteran moth recorders, affirmed “he is right with his identifications. We get ‘festoons’ here in small numbers but have not had the &
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Wild plant enquiry

Bill Keatley asked about a plant he found in Ryde in July 2012 and from his photo we were able to tell him it is Purple Toadflax (Linaria purpurea), which used to be grown in cottage gardens and nowadays appears as a casual in urban areas and on disturbed ground.
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Glanville Fritillaries

Luke Ellison told us about seeing these both as caterpillars in April and as butterflies in June along the Ventnor – Bonchurch cliffs
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Ravens nest in Lake

Dave Dana, a member of the Society, contacted us in April with this message. “Some members will already be aware of the Ravens’ nest at Lake cliffs. Although you can only look up to the nest, you can still see the comings and goings of the adults but you can’t see th
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The Isle of Wight Helleborine refound

(from the Bulletin, February 2006) The Isle of Wight Helleborine is an enigmatic orchid. It was so called because, when originally found near Ventnor in 1913, it was thought to be a new species. It doesn’t seem to have been seen again until the 1930’s in Bonchurch Landslip
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An interesting Mayfly larva from Lukely

A mayfly larva has been found by Keith Marston at Plaish in the Lukely Brook on 7th May 2006. There have been no previous records of mayfly larvae of this genus from the Lukely Brook. It is not possible to speciate the animal from the photo, but it is likely to be either Ephemera dani
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