Blowing a Gale

Strong winds were the order of the day at Priors Hall as I tried to find some interesting insects in the more sheltered parts of the site. There was quite a bit more sunshine today and a lot less rain so when I did manage to find one of those sheltered areas it was pleasantly warm.

Essex? and Small Skippers

Many Marbled Whites were noted and it's amazing to think that this attractive species only arrived here a couple of years ago. Matching the Marbled Whites in the numbers stakes if not the beauty ones were Meadow Browns. Other browns observed in lesser numbers were Speckled Wood, Small Heath and Ringlet. Few whites were seen though there were quite a few skippers on the wing. Large Skippers are fairly easy to identify but separating Small from Essex is another matter altogether. Apart from the fact that the speedy little blighters keep close to the ground when flying all their chosen foodplants were short species such as clover or Self Heal which made checking the undersides of antennae a tricky business indeed. From the photographs I took I thought that I might have seen two Essex but at the moment I can't be 100% sure. Few other butterflies were braving the blow but I did see Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma.

Ringlet and Speckled Wood.

The challenging conditions were proving to be not to the liking of either dragonflies or damselflies either. Many damsels were sitting out the gale in long grasses or on other plants and appropriately enough Common Blues were the most numerous. Rather more Banded Demoiselles than usual were present including a few males around the ponds. Other damsels noted were Blue-tailed, Azure and Red-eyed. Commonest dragon was Four-spotted Chaser with a double figure count being recorded. It looks as if more Common Darters emerged this morning, I'm guessing their first flights were quite exciting! Few other species were seen though these included an Emperor and several Black-tailed Skimmers.

Emperor and Four-spotted Chaser.

No interesting birds were noted today and I didn't manage to find any other wildlife to report, they were probably all sitting out the wind which was a decision I agreed with after a couple of hours.