It's Highland Gathering time again when Corby Old Village comes alive to the sound of bagpipes and drums. Most, but not all, years I try and get as far away as possible because although I'm half Scottish I have no great love for the music. (Oh and I won't be buying an Argentina football shirt either!) Today I headed back to Priors Hall where my plan was to check the ponds close to the golf course. In warm though breezy conditions I walked from Weldon making my first stop at the Quarry Lake.
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| Marbled White and Ringlet |
No birds of note there today though there was a song flighting Meadow Pipit close by. Around the ponds themselves it looks as if Marbled Whites are at the end of their season as I only found one. Ringlets too seem diminished in numbers but Gatekeepers are at their peak. Another species now on the wing again is Common Blue as the new brood emerges in ever greater numbers. Other species seen included Speckled Woods, Red Admiral, an immaculate looking Painted Lady, Large Skipper and the usual whites.
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| Gatekeeper and Speckled Wood |
Good numbers of teneral Common Darters were seen making their first flights and small numbers of Ruddies were noted too. Emperors were the most obvious of the larger species though many were hanging up in shady spots even relatively early in the morning. Brown Hawker and Black-tailed Skimmers made up the other species of dragon, very few damsels were found.
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| Painted Lady and Common Darter |
On my way back to Weldon I paid a brief visit to the Southern Gullet but failed to see any sign of the Southern Migrant Hawkers, a Southern Hawker being scant consolation. Frustratingly a newly arrived Shozzer saw one minutes after my departure, clearly I suffered from premature evacuation. Alan also found another SMH at the same pond where we saw one last year, clearly the man has some kind of connection with this species. As usual other things demanded my time and I left at around noon, sadly there was still plenty of time left to listen to those wailing pipes!
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| Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer |
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