Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Staying Local

Being a keen butterfly enthusiast Alan Lunn one of the Brandon Marsh team had mentioned spending a few hours at Stockton Cutting Nature Reserve and with the weather forecast predicting a glorious morning we met at 10 O'clock at the Boat Inn.

Small Blue
Holly Blue
The area itself is a deep sided disused railway cutting through lias limestone clay's, with adjacent spoil banks and a small abandoned quarry, excellent habitat for butterflies and odanata. Almost upon arrival we were into a selection of butterflies and these included: Small Blue, Common Blue, Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Brown Argos, and decent numbers of Brimstone.

Hairy Dragonfly
Four-spotted Chaser
To complete a really enjoyable few hours we were joined by Bob and Richard who'd given up on Draycote Water for the day. We spent the rest of the visit chasing down Hairy dragonflies but unfortunately never managed to connect with Green Hairstreak butterfly, one of my targets for the day. A few more additions with Beautiful Demoiselle, Banded Demoiselle, White-legged and Blue-tailed damselfly and Orange-tip butterfly!

Grizzled Skipper