Sunny Afternoon

Another after work stroll today taking advantage of the heat wave. This time I didn't venture out too far choosing instead to go over to the pond near Eurohub here in Corby. While there was not too much to report it was still nice to be out.

Four-spotted Chaser and Azure Damsel with prey.

Single dragonflies of four different species were seen, Emperor, Brown Hawker, a Four-spotted and a Broad-bodied Chaser. Damsels were present in good numbers and there must have been something in the air as there were many pairs in cop. Azures were the commonest species and I checked as many as I could just in case there were any Variables among them but there were not. Blue tailed were pretty common too and I found several colour forms. Other species found were a reasonable number of Common Blues, a female Banded Demoiselle, two Large Reds and two also of Red-eyed.

Violacea form of Blue-tailed and Banded Demoiselle.

Of the butterflies seen today the browns predominated with Ringlets and Meadow Browns being the commonest as is often the case at this time of the law. Far lovelier, in my opinion at least, were eleven Marbled Whites, it really is great that this attractive species has colonised the local area. Other browns found today were Small Heath and Speckled Wood. Skippers are often common at this time of the year and I saw Large, Small and Essex with the former being the more numerous. A Peacock was the first that I've seen for a while and was probably a new brood individual.

Essex Skipper and Marbled White.

Not much other wildlife on view today though I was treated to some excellent views of Red Kites and there were many singing Willow Warblers on site.

Ringlet and Small Heath.

Staying Close to Home, The Sequel.

While its nice to travel to other places around the country it's equally good staying in the county, particularly so when we have so many good things to look at. This morning I took a walk around Harry's Park and Laundimer woods while a little later I had a walk around the pond at Weldon.

Purple Emperor.

Fermyn Wood is something of a magnet for butterfly enthusiasts at this time of the year and it's little surprise as the Purple Emperors exert quite a pull. A measure of its success is the sheer number of people you can find wandering around, it's a little too busy for me and that's why I prefer the relatively unknown Harry's Park. Although numbers of butterflies here are generally lower than in the better known wood you can with a little patience pick up all of the goodies.

White Admiral and Black Hairstreak.

I started my walk with a Silver-washed Fritillary which as is normal for them at this time of the year raced by without stopping and neither did the two that I saw afterwards. White Admirals were seen in reasonable numbers, eleven in total, and unlike the frits one did stop for a feed on some bramble blossom. It did not take too long to find my first Purple Emperor, one of four, and all of them spent quite some time feeding on the path. One must have thought that all its Christmases had come at once as it fed on an enormous pile of horse dung, they sure look nice but as for their dining habits...

Meadow Brown and Small White.

There was a little surprise in store for me near the other end of the wood when I found a Black Hairstreak on some brambles. I haven't seen one here before and was grateful to get a record shot. Plenty of other butterflies were fluttering about and these included two Red Admirals, Commas, a couple of Small Torties while numbers of both browns and whites are on the increase. With another stop on today's agenda I headed off towards Weldon where I popped into the George for a couple of pints before heading to the pond.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly and Four-spotted Chaser.

My main target here were Small Red-eyed Damselflies and I was lucky as about ten were seen. Red-eyed Damsels outnumbered them by quite a margin and Common Blues were around in good numbers too. Other damsels seen were Large Red, Azure and Banded Demoiselles, there was no sign of any Variables. Dragons were present in reasonable quantities with two Brown Hawkers being new for the year. Three Emperors, two males and a female were noted and several Four-spotted Chasers were keeping to the margins. Commonest dragon here was Black-tailed Skimmer with a minimum of ten being seen.

Speckled Wood and Small Skipper.

Several interesting butterflies were found and these included my first Small Skippers of the year and also three Marbled Whites. At this point it was getting pretty hot so I left it there and headed for my bus.

Common Blue Damsels, Marbled White and Yellowhammer.

Oh You Fritty Things

Yet another road trip today and another county in what is turning out to be a very good year. Three of us popped down to Hockley Wood where we were hoping to find a Heath Fritillary or two which would take my year's frit total up to an unprecedented six species ( and I'm not including the Duke.).

Heath Fritillaries.

Soon after our arrival we did indeed spot a frit but it was a Silver-washed which shot through without pausing. Not that much further down the path we encountered the first of what turned out to be many Heath Fritillaries. In stark contrast to last year's visit when we struggled to find one there seemed to be fifty or more flitting around a sunlit ride. Other species were present too of course, with so much hot sunshine on offer it was no surprise. Commonest were Ringlets and Meadow Browns which were joined by a few Speckled Woods. The undoubted highlight amongst the other species for me was a White Admiral which eventually posed rather well. Several Large Skippers also made their way on to the list while a Holly Blue showed briefly.

White Admiral and Large Skipper.

Our original plan after this was to go over to Canvey Island for some dragonfly watching but a failure to find any suitable parking spots meant a detour to Wat Tyler Country Park instead. As the sun was still beaming down and given our proximity to many large towns it came as no surprise to find that the park was very busy. An additional problem was that many of the ponds appeared to have dried out and even the ones that did have water were overgrown with reedmace and difficult to view.

Holly Blue and Essex Skipper.

Butterflies supplied some of the early interest with Marbled Whites and Essex Skippers featuring. Common and Ruddy Darters were found too, the latter were my first for the year. Holly Blue and a Small Tortoiseshell, my first for some time, soon followed. Finally we came across one of our target species, a Southern Migrant Hawker which was later joined by a further two but sadly none of them settled down. Walking on a little further resulted in another sighting and although this one did land briefly it was too obscured by vegetation to allow any photographs.

Marbled White and Ruddy Darter.

Someway down the path we encountered a pond that actually had some water in it which held the second of our targeted species, a fine male Scarce Emerald. I had seen a couple a little earlier in the month in Norfolk but this time around I didn't have to fight off thousands of attacking mosquitoes. This pond was rather productive and Azure, Large Red, Common Blue and Blue-tailed were also viewed. Having seen all of the species that we wanted to and enjoyed good views even if we couldn't take any pics of the Southern Migrants we decided to head home. Our journey was broken by a visit to a pub but it's nice to be able to toast what was yet another very good day.

Scarce Emerald and Emperor.

Hanging With Some Beauties

Another chance to see the Beautiful Demoiselles after work was just too good an opportunity to pass up so I set off for an after work excursion to Hanging Houghton in the company of a friend. we caught up with them at their favoured spot very soon after arrival and spent a bit of time photographing them. For once I managed a couple of flight shots which while far from perfect were still OK.

Beautiful Demoiselles.

While there was not a great deal else to see we did find a few Speckled Woods, a Large White and at least two Green-veined as well as a Brimstone. Arguably of more interest was a flypast by a North American Harvard and a Supermarine Spitfire which while being no doubt noisier were probably also rarer.

Harvard and Spitfire, freshly emerged Comma.

From here we headed over to Bedford Purlieus which is just over the border in Cambridgeshire where we were hoping to catch up with a few more butterflies. We found a newly emerged Comma near the entrance and soon found a few of the commoner species such as Small Heath. A male Brimstone was as nice as usual and it was good to catch up with some Ringlets. A White-lettered hairstreak nectaring on some bramble flowers was a first for the year and very welcome. Some way further on a Silver-washed Fritillary was seen and, unusually for newly emerged males, it hung around for a while. This or another also showed well a little later on.

White-letter Hairstreak and Silver-washed Fritillary.

With time passing we moved on to the Shoulder of Mutton in Weldon where plans for Sunday were discussed with another mate over a pint or two, can't reveal what those plans are at the mo but watch this space!

Another Comma at the other end of its life.

Gloucester New Spot

The lure of Large Blues at Daneway Banks nature reserve was enough to have a car load of folks heading southwest down to Gloucestershire. As I had not managed to make it down before to see any of their introduced populations it gave me a chance to catch up with yet another new species.

Large Blue.

We arrived in a period of hot and sunny weather which made our prospects seem good. My first highlight was an immaculate Dark Green Fritillary which was a first for the year. Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns were flitting over the flower filled grassland and the first blues, Commons sadly, were soon found. I did catch a quick view of a Large Blue but it didn't hang around.  At another spot on a steeper part of the reserve we found some more Large Blues and this time a few hung around for some record shots. Other species were added to the list with several Small Heaths, a Ringlet or two and a few Large Skippers being found.

Dark Green Frit and tatty Common Blue.

Having had to park the car in a nearby pub car park it seemed only fair to pop in and enjoy a couple of pints and we enjoyed a very enjoyable hour or so in the beer garden. With another stop planned we had to leave the pleasant surroundings and hit the road heading for the reserve at Woorgreens Lake.

Small Heath and Azure Damsel enjoying a meal.

The clouds had rolled in by this stage and the likelihood of finding any interesting dragons was reduced. A few species were observed with Common Blue Damsels being the commonest, other damsels found were Large Red, Azure and a single Emerald found by one of our group. While there were not many dragons around we were still able to find an Emperor, a few Four-spots, some Black-tailed Skimmers and a couple of newly emerged Common Darters. Unusually by recent standards a few interesting birds were noted with a singing Tree Pipit a nice reminder of our lost local ones and also a small flock of Crossbills and a few Siskins.

Common Darter.

As time was ticking on and with the not so small matter of a certain football match to be considered we made our way home more than content with the day's doings.

A Grand Day Out

I managed to scrounge a lift over to Gretton weir this morning where I hoped to find some White-legged Damsels. Given that it was fairly windy and rather cloudy things did not look too promising but thankfully the damsels did not let me down.

River Welland and White-legged Damsels.

In all a total of around seventy or so White-legs were seen, mainly males but with a couple of females too. Many were sitting lower down in the grass as they sought to avoid the wind but still showed well. They were if anything outnumbered by the many Banded Demoiselles but apart from these two species very few others were seen, a couple of Blue-tailed and a single Common Blue. Few butterflies either with just a few Meadow Browns on view. The only other wildlife of note was a Sedge Warbler singing near the road.

Painted Lady and Red Admiral.

Walking back along the road I was struck by how little insect life was around, presumably the fields are sprayed with pesticides or something similar. A phone call from a friend telling me that the local Marbled Whites were out was good news, I had hoped to catch up with them today. As I walked up from the road and out of the valley near to Brookfield Plantation I began to see a little a little more life with more Meadow Browns and a few Small Heaths appearing. A first for the year Essex Skipper was a nice surprise and quite early too, it was followed by a Painted Lady and then a Red Admiral.

Essex Skipper and a nicely marked Speckled Wood.

The large field near Brookfield was free of Badgers today but there were a couple of Fallow Deer grazing. The plantation itself looks to have seen rather a lot of forestry work which is not altogether welcome during the breeding season but may improve the site for butterflies. Not much variety today with lots of Speckled Woods and yet more Meadow Browns but nothing else.

Ringlet and Marbled White.

Willowbrook Industrial Estate delivered a double whammy of year firsts with three of the hoped for Marbled Whites and a brace of Ringlets. About eight or nine Common Blues were found though they're beginning to look a little frayed now as the first brood's flight season nears its end. A bit of a surprise on the dragonfly front with the sighting of a male and female Black-tailed Skimmer being my first at this site. All things considered it was a good morning with four new species for my Northants butterfly list being seen.

Black-tailed Skimmer.