Not just another white

One of the visitors to the nectar bar yesterday was this green veined white.

Bluebells seemed to be the target of most of its attentions but it stopped for a long drink at this geranium flower.

It was special for me because it's the first time I've seen one of these butterflies and it posed nicely for a picture!

Peacock and tortoise

But both are insects!

The onset of some real spring weather has brought the hibernating butterflies out. I've seen plenty of brimstones and a comma or two but this peacock cooperated by staying still for a while.

This little creature is a beetle classified as nationally scarce - Pilemostoma fastuosa. 

It is known as a tortoise beetle because its head is hidden beneath the shell of its thorax. These small beetles (about 4mm) live on chalk downland but they overwinter in woodland. My specimen seems to have stopped over here on its journey between the two. It has just a mile to fly to get to the nearby chalk downs.

Snow at Sandgate

Just down the road to the Sandgate Conservation Area.
All the lakes are frozen across, fallen branches trapped in the ice

 

Trees stand out on the frozen heath but a stream in the wood still flows under the bridge.

Grasses are trapped in a frozen pond while a moorhen leaves its tracks, running across some softer ice in a sheltered corner.