Morning Shift

 With the temperatures continuing to rise I decided to try and do all of my wildlife spotting before it got too hot. An early morning excursion to Harry's Park Wood was the order of the day and although it was still pretty warm at least it was just about bearable.

Common Darter and Silver-washed Fritillary

Along Bears Lane I managed to get my first pic of a county Common Darter, other dragons seen in the wood were Emperor and Brown Hawker. Browns and whites were active from early on and were seen in good numbers. Large Skippers too remain rather common and I was to see many during my stroll. Checking the oaks produced sightings of Purple Hairstreaks but none seemed to be prepared to pose for pictures. As I neared the Brigstock end of the wood several Silver-washed Fritillaries were noted and one of them settled down for a while to take in some nectar from a thistle. Having reached the car park at the Old Dry Bushes end I turned around and began to retrace my steps.

Purple Hairstreak, Purple Emperor and White Admiral

At first there was little new on view, a couple of Red Admirals and some new brood Peacocks joined a half dozen or so Commas on the list. Newly emerged Common Blues were seen on several occasions and there were at least two fresh looking Brimstones. My walk was nearing its end when things really took off for a mad ten minutes. First a Purple Hairstreak was found on the ground though I couldn't work out what it was doing, it didn't appear to be feeding or anything. Soon after the hairstreak departed a large butterfly flew past and landed on a bush near the gate. Lifting the binoculars revealed that it was a male Purple Emperor and not the expected White Admiral. This battle scarred veteran looked as if he had lost two of his legs on his right side and indeed many of today's butterflies looked far from pristine. He flew away strongly only to be replaced immediately after by a White Admiral which spent some time nectaring on bramble blossoms. A great end to my walk which was dominated by the quality of the butterflies, the only bird of note being a Raven.

Brimstones and Peacock

A brief stop at Weldon as I waited for my bus added a few more damsels and Black-tailed Skimmer to my day list while a Kingfisher was heard. The next two days could be potentially the hottest ever recorded in Britain, can't say that I'm looking forward to that!

Black-tailed Skimmer and Red-eyed Damselfly.