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.