At Least It Was Drier!

 Having dried out a little since my last excursion I returned to Priors Hall though with my old camera as the new one died in last week's deluge. There was a bit more sunshine today so I enjoyed quite a few sightings of damsels and dragons.

The late show, Four-spotted Chaser and Azure Damselfly.

My first highlight was a Yellow Wagtail passing over the quarry as I walked past. At Priors itself I noted many Small Heaths and several Common Blues with plenty of the two smaller whites around to look at as well. Good numbers of Speckled Woods also showed though that was it as far as butterflies went today at Priors, there were a few other species noted later on. Both species of darter were showing well with Ruddies still the commonest. A few Migrant Hawkers were observed but none were anywhere as obliging as a male Southern Hawker that posed very nicely. One nice surprise was a Four-spotted Chaser as it's getting fairly late in the season for this species.

Emperor and Southern Hawker.

Priors Hall regular Alan Shorrock appeared at this point, he'd been picking up litter around the larger pond but had taken a break from wombling to take in a spot of nature spotting. We looked for the Willow Emeralds that Shozzer had seen yesterday but apart from a very brief view met with little success. Damsels that did show better were Common Blues, a couple of Small Red-eyeds, some Blue-taileds and a male Banded Demoiselle. Best of the damsels though was a male Azure, this is the latest that I've ever seen this species. Only one more dragon was added to our list and that was a female Emperor which posed very nicely indeed.

Vapourer Moth caterpillar and Common Blue Damselflies.

From Priors we made the short journey to Deenethorpe where a Raven was the highlight though there were some Banded Demoiselles along the stream. At nearby Deene Lake bird numbers in general were greatly reduced from last week though the Green Sandpiper flock had risen to six. The main lake was a little on the quiet side with just the Black Swan to report though Alan picked out another Raven. Not many odes on the wing though quite a few Small Red-eyed Damselflies were noted. Best butterfly was only my second Painted Lady of the year of which I was able to get a single pic. There seems to have been a small increase in sightings recently with several observers reporting them over the last week or so. Two Small Tortoiseshells were also observed though by then the arrival of the predicted rain showers sent us running for the car bringing our wildlife spotting to a close for the day.

Painted Lady and Banded Demoiselle.