This is Turning Into a Brilliant Summer!

Another away day today when three of us headed over to Worcestershire in such of the sometimes elusive Common Clubtail dragonfly. We passed through the lovely town of Bewdley before reaching the Blackstone Riverside Park where we hoped to connect with our quarry.

Common Clubtails, just wow!

Once again fortune was with us and we found one within five minutes of arriving. This one posed for a rather long time as it snacked on some unfortunate insect and allowed us to take some nice photos. We went on to find a further two or three others and one of these was content to pose for over half an hour as one of our group sketched it. This really is an attractive species and was yet another new insect for me.

Banded Demoiselle.

White-legged Damsels.

Clearly a lot of White-legged Damsels had recently emerged as we saw plenty. One unfortunate female was grabbed by a more mature male but she managed to get away with her honour intact. The only other damsel about was Banded Demoiselle which was fairly common.

Meadow Brown and a shot of Blackstone Riverside Park.

Two first for the year butterflies were also seen today with a Meadow Brown and a Painted Lady being found. Lots of Silver-Y moths were encountered too with many feeding at comfrey flowers.

White-faced Darters - superb.

Having seen the clubtails fairly easily we decided to head over to Whixall Moss in Shropshire where the main draw were the White-faced Darters that call this place home. Happily for us we managed to catch up with quite a few of these very beautiful little dragons. Yet another new species and I think one of my favourites. Other species on the moss included several Four-spotted Chasers and many Azure and Large Red Damsels.

Four-spotted Chaser and Large Red Damselflies.
 

There was a very pleasant surprise on the butterfly front too when at least half a dozen Large Heaths were seen, my first in England though I had seen them in Scotland. Apparently the first only emerged here yesterday so we were fairly lucky and while they were far too active for pictures they were still good to see. All this and to a soundtrack of Curlew calls too, it truly was an excellent day!

Brimstone.