Diario de happybird44

I just wanted to record the amazing day I had yesterday.

I observed 3 species new to me for the first time;

• Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
• Hook-barred Spearhorn (Chrysotoxum festivum)
• Scalloped Oak (Crocallis elinguaria)

The Skipper was a challenge as I could at first only see it from above (but with wings closed), later I got a picture of the underside and was able to narrow it down to 2 species, and finally I was able to get an image of the upper wings and identify it fully. It stayed in the same spot for a long time and I was careful not to disturb it.

The hover fly I thought was just one of the usual ones and almost paid it no notice. However I decided to take a picture anyway and was very surprised to find it was a new one for me.

The Moth made it's way inside our house and we carefully put it back outside. While looking at it I was puzzled by the bare spot on top of it's Thorax. I did some searching and found this earlier discussion thread https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/a-simple-question-about-moths/26013 which, while not completely solving the question, showed that it was a known condition and I learned something new!

However the crowning event of the day for me was finding an adult Slowworm (Anguis fragilis).
They are such beautiful creatures, and this one even had it's tail intact.
I first came across a dead one when I was young (around 40 years ago) and now in the last 2 months I have found three, a dead one, a very young one, and now a healthy adult.

• https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/223995523 (dead)
• https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/227325126 (youngster)
• https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/229945455 (adult)

I hope to see more of them in the future. They are definitely one of my favourite species!