Tigers in Sherwood

As part of work yesterday, I had a good look at the haul road unit of Clipstone Heath SSSI; this is an old sandstone cutting, with some nice heathy vegetation and plenty of exposed substrate. 

Clipstone Heath SSSI - haul road unit

Now, I'm not good (at all) at invertebrates, with the possible exception of butterflies, but there seemed to be plenty of interest at the site, and even I couldn't fail to ID the Green Tiger Beetles - very striking creatures. 

Green Tiger Beetle

Other things I managed to ID were several Pill Millipedes, and a distinctive spider called Pardosa saltans. Bird-wise, fly-over Swallow and my first singing Tree Pipit of the year were best. 

Pill Millipedes

Pardosa saltans

Back home, I photo'd a jumping spider in my garden, with mixed success, which I reckon is the Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus. As always, Trevor Pendleton's Eakring Birds website comes in useful for ID tasks of this nature!

Zebra Spider