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Perryfield Quarry
Perryfield Quarry is an operational stone quarry and part butterfly nature reserve located on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It is situated towards the middle of the island, east of the village of Weston and south of the hamlet of Wakeham. The reserve section is now a valued home for a number of butterfly species, while the working quarry area is one of the largest active quarries on Portland. The quarry is owned by Portland Stone Firms Ltd, along with Broadcroft and Coombefield Quarries. The firm is the largest landholder on the island. King Barrow Quarry, located close to the area of New Ground, in the north-east corner area of Tophill, is also another Portland nature reserve. Broadcroft Quarry is also a part butterfly reserve. History Perryfield Quarry was first quarried during the 1890s. Planning consent for modern day quarrying on Portland was granted in 1951, covering 324 hectares of the island. Portland Stone Firms Ltd received and still holds the planning co ...
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Smyrnium Olusatrum
''Smyrnium olusatrum'', common name alexanders (or alisander) is an edible flowering plant of the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae), which grows on waste ground and in hedges around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal regions of Europe. It was formerly widely grown as a Leaf vegetable, pot herb, but is now appreciated mostly by foragers. Description Alexanders is a stout, glabrous (hairless) biennial growing to 150 (sometimes 180) cm tall, with a solid stem up to 22 mm in diameter, which becomes hollow and grooved with age. It has a tuberous tap-root which can be 60 cm long, as well as fibrous lateral roots. The stem leaves are arranged in a spiral (although the upper cauline ones are often opposite and sometimes in whorls of 3), with an inflated, purple-striped, fleshy petiole (botany), petiole that has papery margins towards the base. The compound leaves are broadly diamond-shaped, 2- or 3-times ternately (sometimes pinnately) divided. Sometimes they are slightly hairy towa ...
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Dingy Skipper
The Dingy Skipper (''Erynnis tages'') is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. Description ''Erynnis tages'' is different from other skippers because of the predominantly monochrome, gray-brown wing coloration and the marbling, which is only present on the upper side of the forewings, as well as a series of small white dots on the wing edge. It is probably the most moth-like British butterfly and normally rests with its wings in a moth-like fashion. This well-camouflaged, brown and grey butterfly can be confused with the grizzled skipper, the Mother Shipton moth or the burnet companion moth. Faded specimens of '' Carcharodus alceae'' are distinguished by glass spots in the forewing and by a jagged rear wing edge. A special feature is the restraint of the imagos, which is reminiscent of an deltoid moth with its roof-shaped wings placed one on top of the other. Range The Dingy Skipper is widespread from the Iberian Peninsula and Ireland in the west to the Pacific in East Asia. ...
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Adonis Blue
The Adonis blue (''Lysandra bellargus'', also known as ''Polyommatus bellargus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It inhabits the Palearctic realm (Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Southern Russia, Iraq, Iran, Caucasus, Transcaucasus, and Turkey). It is found in chalk downland, in warm, sheltered spots, flying low over vegetation, seeking females that are rich chocolate brown in color. The male has brilliantly colored blue wings that give it its name. Description The male has the upper side wings a brilliant sky blue, with a fine black line round the edge and a white margin. The female is chocolate brown with a few blue scales near the base, and with orange spots, bordered by blue scales, around the edge of the hind wing. The fringes are chequered both sexes. The underside is brownish grey with black and orange crescent spots. The wingspan is about . The caterpillar reaches in length, has a dark green body with dark spines, and yellow bands along the bac ...
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Dark Green Fritillary
The dark green fritillary (''Speyeria aglaja'') is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. The insect has a wide range in the Palearctic realm - Europe, Morocco, Iran, Siberia, Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan. Description in Seitz The large fritillary is fiery reddish yellow above, the basal area of the male being always duller. The markings are constant: a black margin, a row of deep black but thin marginal arcs, a very straight, central row of dots, of which only the last one of the forewing is shifted distad; between this row of dots and the base there are six thin black transverse bands extending from the subcostal vein into the wing. The underside of the hindwing is characteristic; it bears numerous silver-spots on a partly verdigris partly leather-yellow ground, but never a row of ocelli in the marginal area, as is the case in the forms of the Niobe fritillary (''Fabriciana niobe'') and high brown fritillary (''F. adippe''). Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: ...
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Chalkhill Blue
The chalkhill blue (''Lysandra coridon'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is a small butterfly that can be found throughout the Palearctic realm, where it occurs primarily in grasslands rich in chalk. Males have a pale blue colour, while females are dark brown. Both have chequered fringes around their wings. Subspecies Subspecies include: * ''Lysandra coridon coridon'' * ''Lysandra coridon borussia'' (Dadd, 1908) – (Urals) * ''Lysandra coridon asturiensis'' (Sagarra, 1922) – (Spain) Ecology Description ''Lysandra coridon'' has a wingspan of .Simon CoombeCaptain's European Butterfly Guide/ref> These small butterflies present a sexual dimorphism. The males having pale silvery-blue upperside of the wings with a submarginal line of grey spots on the hindwings and a thin brown and white chequered fringe. Females have dark brown upperside of wings, with marginal orange spots and also with chequered fringes. The underside of the wings show a light ochre colouration, ...
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Small Blue
The small blue (''Cupido minimus'') is a Palearctic butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Despite its common name, it is not particularly blue. The male has some bluish suffusion at the base of its upper wings but is mostly dark brown like the female. The species can live in colonies of up to several hundred and in its caterpillar stage is cannibalistic. Description Small blue males are dark brown with a scattering of bright blue scales that speckle their wings. Females lack this blue speckling. Both males and females exhibit the characteristic silver underside with black spots. The male has a bluish tint at the base of its wings similar to the upper side. Their wingspan can fall anywhere from 16-27mm, but males tend to be the smaller sex. Small blues are often confused with the female Osiris Blue, whose coloring is similar to that of the male small blue. Geographic range ''C. minimus'' is found in Europe, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Tian-Shan, western Siberia, central Siberia ...
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Silver-studded Blue
The silver-studded blue (''Plebejus argus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It has bright blue wings rimmed in black with white edges and silver spots on its hindwings, lending it the name of the silver-studded blue. ''P. argus'' can be found across Europe and east across the Palearctic, but is most often studied in the United Kingdom in which the species has experienced a severe decline in population due to habitat loss and fragmentation. ''P. argus'' engages in mutualism with ants that contribute to the butterflies' reproductive fitness by providing protection from predation and parasitism from the point of egg laying to their emergence as adults. ''P. argus'' adults emerge in the end of June and beginning of July and engage in flight into the beginning of August. The butterfly is adaptable to different habitats and is found in heathland, mossland, and limestone grassland. Tending towards a sedentary lifestyle and typically flying less than a day, ''P. argus'' maint ...
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Cotoneaster Horizontalis
''Cotoneaster horizontalis'' is a species of flowering plant in the genus '' Cotoneaster'' of the family Rosaceae. Description ''Cotoneaster horizontalis'' is a short shrub with a spreading habit, growing to tall by wide. It is cultivated for its flat, symmetrical sprays of glossy green, deciduous leaves 6 to 12 mm long. The flowers appear in summer, and can range from pink to white. It is commonly grown in parks and gardens in temperate regions as hedging or groundcover. Distribution ''Cotoneaster horizontalis'' is native to mountains of Nepal, China, and Taiwan; in China it occurs from Tibet and Yunnan in the west to Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east and is absent from the north and the very south. It has naturalised in parts of the United Kingdom, and may be becoming invasive. It has been recorded from Counties Down, Antrim and Dublin in Ireland. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-es ...
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Lampyris Noctiluca
''Lampyris noctiluca'', the common glow-worm of Europe (see also "glowworm"), is the type species of beetle in the genus ''Lampyris'' and the family Lampyridae. ''Lampyris noctiluca'' presents a conspicuous sexual dimorphism. The males are winged, with brown elytra, a clearer pronotum and a large brown spot in the middle, while females are larviforme, wings are missing and they are often twice the size of the males (up to in length). These beetles use their bioluminescence to attract mates. The adult females are mostly famed for their glow, although all stages of their life cycle are capable of glowing. In Britain, this species is fairly common compared to its cousin '' Phosphaenus hemipterus'' – the lesser glow worm – which is very rare. Distribution The range of this beetle stretches from Portugal and Ireland in the west, right across Europe, Africa and Asia to China in the east. It also survives further north than any other firefly, almost reaching the Arctic Circle. I ...
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Tettigoniidae
Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids (especially in North America), or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, the Tettigoniidae are the only extant (living) family in the superfamily Tettigonioidea. They are primarily nocturnal in habit with strident mating calls. Many species exhibit mimicry and camouflage, commonly with shapes and colors similar to leaves. Etymology The family name Tettigoniidae is derived from the genus ''Tettigonia'', first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. In Latin ''tettigonia'' means a kind of small cicada, leafhopper; it is from the Greek τεττιγόνιον ''tettigonion'', the diminutive of the imitative ( onomatopoeic) τέττιξ, ''tettix'', cicada. All of these names such as ''tettix'' with repeated sounds are onomatopoeic, imitating the stridulation of these insects. The common name ''katydid'' is also onomat ...
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Sinapis Arvensis
''Sinapis arvensis'', the charlock mustard, field mustard, wild mustard, or charlock, is an annual or winter annual plant of the genus '' Sinapis'' in the family Brassicaceae. It is found in the fields of North Africa, Asia and Europe. ''Pieris rapae'', the small white butterfly, and ''Pieris napi'', the green veined white butterfly are significant consumers of charlock during their larval stages. Description ''Sinapis arvensis'' reaches on average of height, but under optimal conditions can exceed one metre. The stems are erect, branched and striated, with coarse spreading hairs especially near the base. The leaves are petiolate (stalked) with a length of . The basal leaves are oblong, oval, lanceolate, lyrate, pinnatifid to dentate, long, wide. The cauline leaves are much reduced and are short petiolate to sessile but not auriculate-clasping. It blooms from May to September, or May to August, in the UK. The inflorescence is a raceme made up of yellow flowers having four ...
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