King Harry

Despite it being rather cloudy when I left the house I stuck with my plan to return to Harry's Park Wood in search of more butterflies. Luckily by the time I'd arrived at the wood the clouds had given  way to some lengthy sunny breaks with brought out some decent stuff.

Purple Emperor.

The first species that I saw was a White Admiral which was the first of about six or seven. Most were very active but one did pause for a brief moment giving me a chance to take an indifferent photo. Ringlets and Meadow Browns were fairly common along the rides and were joined in shadier spots by Speckled Woods. Over the last week or so whites have begun to appear again and today I saw Green-veined and Large. While Painted Ladies continue to be seen in numbers it looks as if Red Admirals may be increasing too as I seem to be seeing more of them too, there may have been as many as ten today. Only one species of skipper was noted and that was Large, this species seems to like woodland rides.

Silver-washed Fritillary and White Admiral.

About half way through the wood I came across my main target species or rather it came across me. While walking along a Purple Emperor almost collided with me as it hurtled along at head height. On this occasion it didn't stop but happily any disappointment was short lived as I found another taking in nutrients from the path. These are often quite approachable if you tread softly and this one allowed me to get fairly close views and I was able to get some nice pics. I left him to his path licking and carried on along the main path. At least two Black Hairstreaks were in the same spot as the one on Friday, Alan Shorrock tells me that he saw others in another part of the wood which suggests that there's a healthy population here.

Red Admiral and Black Hairstreak.

My return walk through the wood gave me another chance to view the Emperor who was still enjoying his path and I also saw several Commas and a Small Tortoiseshell. Another highlight of today was a beautiful male Silver-washed Fritillary nectaring on bramble blossoms near the entrance. All in all a very good morning and I was to see a group of four Painted Ladies and several wonderfully fresh Small Torties on thistles along Bears Lane while on my way home. Not much else to report apart from some of the local Ravens, several passed over and one was in the wood itself.

Meadow Brown, Painted Lady and bees making bees.