Trumpington Meadows Lepidoptera in May

I had reason to be in the vicinity of Trumpington Meadows today and although the wildflowers are coming on, very little is in bloom relative to what we see there at the summer peak. There was some Red Campion, Bladder Campion, some Common Vetch, Oxeye Daisy, Red Clover, a tiny bit of early Field Scabious and a few other bits and bobs. I didn’t have high hopes for seeing an early Marbled White or the Small Blues which enjoy the Kidney Vetch there. And, indeed, there were no Marbled Whites on show, but there was a mating pair of Small Blue!

There were numerous Brimstone, Orange Tip, and Peacock, and we had a solitary sighting of Red Admiral. There was a lone Holly Blue at the car park and just one Common Blue (first of the year for me) on the area close to Byron’s Pool. A single Silver Y moth put in an appearance too and a single Green-veined White.

It was over the M11 foot and cycle bridge where there are often more Small Blue in the flying season that we saw half a dozen or so Small Heath (first ones of the year) and then caught sight of the in copulo pair of Small Blue. Dancing among them numerous Grass Rivulet moths, which I’d first seen here in 2022.