Well Done Weldon!

On returning to Corby the weather was so fine that I was tempted to take a stroll down to Weldon for a bit of a poke around. The section of Weldon Industrial Estate nearest to the steelworks had rather a lot of Buddleia bushes so I stopped to check them out. Painted Lady butterflies have been scarce this year so to discover one feeding was good and a pristine Peacock was also found. Two Marbled Whites were less of a surprise nowadays and there was another feeding on knapweed near to the A43 pond.

Scarce this year, a Painted Lady

A freshly emerged second brood Peacock

The most obvious change at this pond was the arrival of a Mute Swan, although they have bred here in previous years this is the first Summer record this year. Mandarins regularly appear to spend eclipse here so the presence of a female was not a surprise. This weekend is also traditionally when the first brood of Tufted Ducks is usually seen so a family party were right on schedule. Half a dozen other Tufties joined the usual crowd of Mallards, Dabchicks , Coots and Moorhens.

Mandarin Duck

Tufted Duck family, now a regular July occurrence.

Rather a lot of Banded Demoiselles were seen at both of the Weldon streams and their shiny wings suggested that many were newly emerged. At the other pond the Small Red-eyed Damsels were around in good numbers and there was a lot of mating activity noted. Other damsels included many Common Blues and a few Blue-tailed. Several Emperors and a Four-spotted Chaser were patrolling the area and there were at least half a dozen Black-tailed Skimmers. A female skimmer was egg laying amongst the Rigid Hornwort and was escorted for the whole time by an attendant male. One of the males still showed some signs on immaturity and the yellow spots on its abdomen were actually rather attractive.

Small Red-eyed Damsel, a fairly new arrival to the area.

Gatekeepers are now rather common though have not reached the numbers of the two common Summer Browns, Ringlet and Meadow Brown.

A male Black-tailed Skimmer showing traces of immaturity.