JUNE 2011

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RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

JUNE 2011

Post by RachelMC »

What to look out for in June:

Butterflies
In the grassy areas Meadow Browns (Maniola jurtina) are easy to find. When this medium sized butterfly is in flight it looks a light brown colour and when resting it clearly displays an orange-brown stripe on the underside of its forewings.

Another much smaller butterfly is the Large Skipper (Ochlodes faunus) which has a very characteristic way of folding its wings when resting.

Under the trees it is usually possible to spot the Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), which is medium sized and brownish. If the wings are outspread when the butterfly rests, the speckled nature of the patterning is obvious.

Plants
The countryside is lush and the hedgerows, meadows and woodlands are bursting with growth. Trees are now all fully in leaf. Most have started to lose their spring freshness by the end of May, with the bright green exchanged for a darker and mellower hue. The Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) blossom starts to fade, but the Elder (Sambucus nigra) blooms light up the roadsides with their big disks of creamy pungent flowers.

The great scramble for light is on and one way up to light without using precious food for support, is to use other plants as scaffolding. White Bryony (Bryonia dioica) is one of the most sophisticated climbers and is common in hedgerows but can easily be overlooked as its white flowers, although having a characteristic shape of leaves are rather inconspicuous.

The fringe vegetation around lakes and rivers is now tall. Flag Irises, surely the most graceful of the group, fleck the wetland fringes with bright yellow flowers (Iris pseudacorus). Gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus), Water Mint (Mentha aquatica), Water Forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides) and Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) are all attractive small plants that can be found in the wet edges.

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