Chequered Dippers

 Regular accomplice Alan Shorrock and I ventured out to Fineshade Wood today with a view to seeing some of their Chequered Skippers. As the title might have hinted we did not meet with any success in that regard but we did catch up with a few decent insects and also a couple of birds too. The weather was mostly warm and sunny though a keen north easterly breeze featured throughout our visit.

Scarce and Broad-bodied Chasers

We parked in King's Cliffe and took the bridleway into the wood seeing a Scarce Chaser on the way. In the wood itself a Cuckoo was calling but butterflies were very few in number. Continuing along the path we eventually began to connect with a few species as the day gradually warmed up. A surprisingly large number of Holly Blues were flitting about the rides and joined Orange-tips, Speckled Woods and Green-veined White on the list. I spotted my first Broad-bodied Chaser of the year which posed for a few pics while Shozzer found a couple of Green Hairstreaks. A family party of Ravens were calling from nearby trees and showed occasionally, the young looked as if they still had a bit of time to go before they mastered flight! We eventually had to concede defeat in our skipper quest and headed back towards the village. Two pairs of ovipositing Large Red Damselflies were seen on the edge of the wood as we left.

Green Hairstreak, Small Heath and Large White

More butterflies began to appear as we strolled with four or five Brimstones, a Red Admiral and Large White being noted. King's Ciffe Meadow had several Small Heaths while there were a few Banded Demoiselles near the brook. A break for a pint or two in the rather good Cross Keys was followed by a stop at the stream at Blatherwycke on the way home. Nothing too exciting here though we added Blue-tailed Damselfly to our day list.

Raven, Large Red Damselflies and Banded Demoiselle