Ring Haw

Recent reports of Dark Green Fritillaries being on the wing at Ring Haw near Yarwell were enough to justify a visit and Alan Shorrock and I headed over there this morning. I hadn't seen this fairly recent arrival to Northamptonshire in the county before so had my fingers firmly crossed as we set out.

Marbled White and Dark Green Fritillary.

On arrival we soon found plenty of Marbled Whites which were my first of the year and Shozzer picked out another year first when he spotted a Ringlet, we saw several more during our visit. Moving on we came to an open area where we found some Dark Green Fritillaries flitting about. At first they showed a reluctance to land but eventually a few did long enough to get some pictures. It's always nice to add to my county list and particularly so when the species is so attractive.

Ringlet and Small Skipper.

Leaving the frits to go about their business we continued towards a pond where a Scarce Chaser was the only dragon on view. Others were seen elsewhere in the wood and these included Emperor and my first Southern Hawker of the year. A Small Skipper became my fourth butterfly year tick of the day though it was not to be the last. In among the FFTY's were lots of other butterflies mainly Meadow Browns though other species noted were Comma, Small Heath, Small Tortoiseshell and Green-veined White. Best bird during our visit was a male Cuckoo whose call was nowhere near as loud as that of a barking Muntjac!

Meadow Brown and Buzzard.

After Ring Haw we took the short trip to Bedford Purlieus just over the border in Cambs and it didn't take long to add Silver-washed Fritillary to both the day and my year list. At least half a dozen were seen flying up and down the rides pausing only for a brief sip of nectar from one of the many bramble flowers. Joining them on the brambles were Large Skippers and a couple of Red Admirals, the only White Admiral noted did not stop unfortunately as this was yet another year first. By now we were came under a fairly sustained attack from clegs but they didn't stop us from seeing more interesting and much less annoying insects.

Silver-washed Fritillary and White-lettered Hairstreak.

Small numbers of Speckled Wood were observed hopefully keeping out of the way of the Brown and Southern Hawkers and also Emperors that were hunting along the rides. Two Black-tailed Skimmers were also seen as well as a healthy number of Common Blue Damselflies. On the way back to the car one final year tick was discovered and that was a very fresh looking specimen of White-lettered Hairstreak which showed very well. Seven new butterflies for the year means that the so called June lull must be well and truly over!

Emperor and another Dark Green Fritillary.