Silver Lining on the Fritillary Cloud

Luckily I managed to convince my bosses to give me a half day holiday today which meant that I could spend my afternoon on the fringes of Stanion Lane Plantation/South Wood. My day had got off to a decent start earlier this morning when what was presumably the returning Little Egret flew over the Jamb in Corby Old Village and was my first here for several months.

Emperor

I began my afternoon stroll around the pond next to the Eurohub footbridge and was treated to a fine selection of damsels and dragons. The most obvious were some Emperors and Brown Hawkers which were constantly zooming after each other as individuals encroached on jealously guarded territories. Females of both species were seen ovipositing while a Four-spotted Chaser, one of several present was seen egg laying in the normal tail dipping fashion while still in flight. I watched several teneral Common Darters taking their first flights while a mature female Ruddy hunted some distance away from the pond. During a period when slightly cloudier conditions prevailed I was able to take a nice shot of a resting Brown Hawker.

Brown Hawker
 

Love was very much in the air for the damsels with mated pairs of Common Blue, Azure and Blue-tailed observed. A few Red-eyed Damsels continue to haunt the water weed and a pair of male Banded Demoiselles had most likely wandered up from the stream. My personal highlight was watching a female Common Blue receiving the unwelcome amorous attentions of a male Azure, it made for an unusual photograph.

A Common Blue getting some attention from a male Azure.

Butterflies were showing well too in the hot sunshine and there was only one candidate for star of the day, Silver-washed Fritllary. Another first for the site, one whizzed past as I moved away from the pond but disappeared as quickly as it arrived. Happily a big bramble patch had proved too tempting for an additional  three and I was finally able to photograph a Corby one having narrowly failed with the Brookfield ones last year. A further two were seen a little further along the track, Welsh Fritillaries should maybe consider taking some lessons from these obliging Corby ones!

Silver-washed Fritillary.

Marbled White's local success story shows no sign of coming to an end as further individuals were seen feeding on thistle and bramble flowers and more Gatekeepers joined the commoner browns. A fair selection of the commoner species were also seen and included more Commas.

Gatekeeper

I can't resist putting in this additional picture of a Brown Hawker as photographic opportunities don't come around too often.