Kilpatrick Hills, West Dunbartonshire

It's been swelteringly hot and humid for the past few days. I didn't want to push myself too hard so I spent the entire day at Little Round Top, where I could shelter from the sun in the woods.

The Bluebells are flowering (at last!).

Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

A flock of Starlings were busy feeding their brown-feathered young in the grass: the squawking juveniles chase their parents unrelentingly, begging to be fed. Meanwhile, a Roe buck grazed not far from where I was sitting. Small Copper butterflies are just beginning to emerge.

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)

Colours of Bugle (Ajuga reptans)

Bugle comes in a number of shades - here is the normal, violet-blue variety:

Bugle (Ajuga reptans)

Bugle (Ajuga reptans)

Bugle (Ajuga reptans)

Bugle (Ajuga reptans)

This is the white variant, notice that the leaves are yellowish-green rather than the usual red-purple tinged:

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) white variant

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) white variant

Here's the pink variant:

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) pink variant

Bog Stitchwort (Stellaria uliginosa)

Crab Apple (Malus sylvestris)

Bluish-green lichens make this Hawthorn bark resemble dragon-skin:

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus) forms a lush forest of leaves: an ideal habitat for damselflies & dragonflies.

Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus)

Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus)

The Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) reaches peak numbers (here at least) in late May and early June and emerges long before the Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) is on the wing.

Males are a paler, less vibrant blue than E.cyathigerum and have very broad black antehumeral stripes. The second abdominal segment is marked with a black, flat-bottomed U shape. The 8th abdominal segment is entirely blue and the 9th is blue with some black towards the rear.

Females come in two colour forms: blue and green (both are heavily marked with black). It's hard to tell the females apart from other Coenagrion species, looking at the shape of the pronotum of the thorax can aid identification: http://www.habitas.org.uk/dragonflyireland/femaleblues.htm.

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) female

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) female

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) female

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) male

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) male

Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile) strobilus 

Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile) strobilus 

Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile)

Orange-tip butterflies (Anthocharis cardamines) had laid a bright orange egg on every Cuckoo Flower I looked at:

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) egg

Orange-tips lay their eggs singly, one egg per plant, because the larvae are cannibalistic. This egg will take 1-2 weeks to hatch and the pale green larva will first eat its eggshell and then feed on the developing seed pods of the Cuckoo Flower.

Mother Shipton Moth (Callistege mi)

The day-flying Mother Shipton moth (Callistege mi) is so-named because its wings are said to bear the image of the English soothsayer Mother Shipton, aka Ursula Southeil (1488–1561). If you look at the wings you can see the mirror-image portrait of a hag's face in profile, with a punch-and-judy-style chin & nose, a mouth and an eye.