Downies Again

 The Priors Hall Downy Emeralds are beginning to attract visitors from other parts of the county. On Friday our county recorder popped in and saw two on different ponds suggesting that there might be a viable population here. This morning I joined Shozzer and Phil Rogers in making a trip over there hoping for further sightings of our own. Weatherwise it was far from optimum with quite lengthy cloudy spells in between the sunnier periods but there was just enough of the good stuff to bring the insects out.

A pair of smalls, Skipper and Heath

Little Ringed Plovers were heard at the Quarry Lake and a distant Cuckoo called but the only other birds of note were several Ravens picked out by Alan. Butterflies featured strongly today, my first Small Skippers of the year were the highlights but I was also happy to see more Marbled Whites too. Other browns noted on our travels were Meadow Brown, Small Heath and Speckled Wood. The only other species were Large Skipper and Brimstone though more species should be appearing soon.

Black-tailed Skimmers and Bee Orchid

Our Downy quest duly delivered the goods after a relatively short time when a male was seen patrolling the margins of the first pond close to where the county's last Tree Pipits used to nest. We watched him for at least ten minutes on and off though none of us managed to grab any photos. Other dragons noted on our travels included Emperors, Black-tailed Skimmers, Four-spotted Chasers and Hairy Dragonflies spread around the ponds. Damsels were not ignored either with several Banded Demoiselles being spotted, they're wanderers from nearby streams. Other damsels present in the area were Blue-tailed, Azure, Large Red and Red-eyed being noted. Increasing cloud cover and a list of things to do elsewhere meant that I couldn't stay for long and we left in the early afternoon.