Flying chimney sweepers

 There were scores of these little chimney sweeper Odezia atrata moths flying in the sunlight in the hay meadow in Durham University Botanic Garden this morning. It seemed as though there had been a recent mass emergence, since they were all in mint condition, with the white tips to their sooty-black wings intact.

Their larvae feed on the flowers of pignut, the white umbellifer growing amongst the hay rattle in the photo below.

The meadow has a sheltered, southerly-facing aspect, perfect for this little day-flying moth that only produces one generation, in early summer, each year.

Butterbur going to seed

It seems like no time at all since the first butterbur flower spikes began to appear along riverbanks in early spring, but now they are ready to shed their seeds. These impressive seed spikes were growing in woodland beside the river Wear at Durham Wildlife Trust's Low Barns nature reserve last week.

There are separate male and female plants of butterbur, which spreads via creeping underground rhizomes. Large areas of England have only male plants, thought to have been transplanted long ago outside of the plant's natural range by beekeepers, because butterbur is a prolific producer of pollen and nectar for honeybees. In Country Durham we have both sexes of the plant so seed set is common, although the female plants only become conspicuous when they elongate and produce these tall seed heads in late spring.
 

Speckled wood butterfly laying eggs

 Speckled wood butterflies have been expanding their range northwards, into County Durham and beyond, for fifteen years now. They've been visiting our garden for about a decade and for the last five years they've been present from early spring until late autumn, so we guessed that they must be breeding here, producing a second summer generation. Last week I found proof.

A female laying her eggs on grass stems, carefully placing them one at a time.

The tiny, glassy pale green eggs provide an excellent excuse for not pulling up the grasses that are infesting the flower borders.