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.
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Small Blue |
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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.
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Hairy Dragonfly |
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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!
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Grizzled Skipper |