Hot

 Another cracker of a day, slightly cloudier than on the previous two days but still hot and sunny. As I wanted to do some more ode spotting I decided to visit Barnwell for the third Monday in a row. No Kingfisher views today though I heard them on a couple of occasions and apart from the regular collection of Mandarin Ducks there were few birds of note.

Grey Heron and Swallow.

Commonest dragon today was Four-spotted Chaser including one of the praenubia form with lots of activity around the lakes. Still hanging on were two female Scarce Chasers, these are fairly late though they were a little on the late side emerging this year. Only a few Black-tailed Skimmers were noted though it's far from optimum habitat for them here. Both species of the regular darters were found though in penny numbers only, their peak will come as the Summer progresses. Lording it over all of this small fry were Emperors, a Southern Hawker and several Brown Hawkers.

Scarce and praenubia form of Four-spotted Chaser.

Most noteworthy amongst the damsels were the growing numbers of Small Red-eyed Damselflies on Mill and North Lakes. They're quite a bit commoner than their larger cousins now and should become very common by the end of the month. Common Blues far outnumbered Azures and there were many Banded Demoiselles on view. A brief glimpse of a very fresh teneral suggested Willow Emerald to me but the views were inconclusive. Blue-tailed Damselflies posed no such ID conundrums and rounded off today's list.

Small Red-eyed Damselflies and Small Skipper.

No surprises in amongst the butterflies though there was a decent variety and a total of twelve species were seen. Highlight was a couple of male Brimstones and a fresh looking Peacock. Plenty of Gatekeepers were on show and there were also a couple of Small Skippers.

Brimstone and Peacock.