Going to Gretton

While the weather this week has been OK for most things it's been fairly poor for the insect spotters amongst us with a brisk and cool breeze keeping things quiet. My walk around Gretton Weir this morning during the sunnier part of the day produced a few sightings but not that much.

Gretton Weir and female Demoiselle.

Banded Demoiselles are beginning to appear in the riverside vegetation more than a fortnight after the ones at Weldon, the water in the Welland must be quite a bit cooler. The only other ode on view were Large Red Damselflies as I didn't see Hairy Dragonfly which another observer had seen here at the weekend. A couple of Small Tortoiseshells and a Green-veined White were the only butterflies seen here.

Large Red and Azure Damselfly.

Gretton Pocket Park had a couple of Azure Damselflies but no other insects apart from a few white butterflies. Plenty of tadpoles were observed in the pond where a few Smooth Newts were also present. Walking from here towards Brookfield added Red Admiral and Orange-tip to the day list but nothing else of interest. The stroll through the plantation was uneventful as by this time the sun had been replaced by clouds and only Speckled Woods and more Large Red Damselflies were noted.

tadpoles and Smooth Newt.

I'm hoping that the improvement forecast in the weather is going to improve things a bit and with the slight relaxation in the government's lockdown rulings I may make it over to the Nene, those Scarce Chasers won't spot themselves!