Regular twitching pal Alan Shorrock and I were at it again this afternoon when we headed along to Pitsford after I'd finished work. Today's target was a Lesser Emperor spotted last week near the boat jetty beneath the fishing lodge by the county recorder. With the weather finally delivering some warm and sunny conditions I was quite optimistic about our chances.
 |
| Emperors and Beautiful Demoiselle |
From the shoreline near the jetty we saw several Emperors and lots of Common Blue and Red-eyed Damselflies. From a little closer to the causeway a possible candidate was seen but the light wasn't helpful and we couldn't get any conclusive views. We decided to move on and check a little more of the reserve before returning later. Shozzer found an Osprey that attracted some unwanted attention from the local Common Terns, the other bird of note was a Kingfisher. Butterflies are slowly increasing with the species on the wing being Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood and Large Skipper. Several Scarlet Tiger moths were seen but I didn't get any pics of this attractive species. Top odes in this part of the reserve were the several Beautiful Demoiselles that we encountered, I'm having a good year so far for this species.
 |
| Speckled Wood and Large Skipper |
Returning to the area near the jetty we found our possible Lesser Emperor again and this time got better views. I saw enough to be happy with the identification and managed to take a fairly awful record shot which I think supports the I.D. This is only my second Northants (and UK) Lesser Emperor following another at Pitsford several years ago. We left soon after having had a third successful twitch in a row, I hope the run continues!
 |
| Lesser Emperor |
No comments:
Post a Comment