Skippers

 It's been quite difficult to catch up with some of the more interesting butterflies this spring as my days off often coincide with rubbish weather. Today things looked a little more promising and I opted to hop on to the X4 and head towards Priors Hall. Although the sunshine was still rationed to an extent there was just enough to achieve some good results.

Common Blue, Dingy and Grizzled Skippers

At the quarry lake a Little Egret joined the regular crew and at least one Great Crested Grebe was on view, will this be the year when we get our first site breeding record? Closer to the ponds a Common Blue butterfly was my first of the year, at least half a dozen were on the wing. Next up were Dingy and Grizzled Skippers with the former in particular present in good numbers. Also on view were a pair of smalls, Copper and Heath, and I had a fleeting glimpse of a probable Painted Lady. Around the ponds I saw my first Azure Damselflies of the year keeping company with some Large Reds. Several Chasers which I thought may well have been Four-spotteds were seen but not confirmed. As the cloud cover increased and insect activity diminished accordingly I decided to head back into Weldon and catch the bus back to Corby.

Small Copper, Azure and Large Red Damselfly