Last Furlough Friday

Having confidently asserted to a member of a FB group that Green Hairstreaks were still about it occurred to me that I'd better check my facts rather than end up with egg on my face. Happily my visit to the area near Corby's STW did produce sightings of a couple of males. As is their aggressive habit they spent most of the time fighting with each other in little spiralling bouts of squabbling.

Green Hairstreak and Dingy Skipper.

My visit produced a few more butterfly highlights not least of which was my first Dingy Skipper here this year. Other year site firsts were Common Blue and Brown Argus, the latter are really starting to increase now. A male Brimstone looked surprisingly fresh given that it's had a long life by butterfly standards. Among the other species noted were Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Green-veined White and a female Holly Blue.

Holly and Common Blues.

Moving on from here I checked the new Dingy Skipper colony near the A43 pond at Weldon. I was rewarded with sightings of about five and also had views of my first Banded Demoiselle here. Nearby Weldon Industrial Estate had my first and only Small Heath of the day.

Variable and Large Red Damselflies.

From here it was a short walk to the stream where my search for White-legged Damselflies drew a blank. A fourth male Variable Damselfly of the Spring was the star of the show, May is the best month to see these scarce insects at this site. Numbers of Large Red Damselflies were recorded and these included a female struggling with a large (by her standards) cranefly which must have left her feeling pretty full by the time she had scoffed it. More Blue-tailed Damselflies have emerged and these included females of both the rufescens and violacea forms. The other species noted were Banded Demoiselles and Azure Damselflies. Orange-tip numbers seem to be dropping now though there were still a few around and I also managed to see another Brimstone.

Violacea (top) and rufescens form of female Blue-tailed Damselflies.