A day out around the local area starting off by accompanying Jim Timms on one of his butterfly transects. Although the day started off a little overcast there was plenty of warm sunshine to be had and many Butterflies and Odanata on the wing.
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| Silver-washed Fritillary - Plenty on offer but would they land!! |
One of the highlights had to be at least four Purple Emperors, including a couple of males, which we managed to get some half decent scoped views of at treetop level. Silver-washed Fritillary were also quite numerous but trying to get any decent images proved a little harder.
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| White Admiral - Another brief photo opportunity. |
White Admirals were also in decent numbers, along with Small Skipper, Ringlet & Meadow Brown. Smaller numbers of Large White, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood & Marbled White were also noted.
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| Emerald Damselflies - Double figures during the transect! |
A good selection of Dragonfly and Damselfly, the latter producing many numbers of Common & Azure, but my favourite had to be Emerald Damselfly, over twenty seen today! Four-spotted Chaser, Ruddy & Common Darter, Emperor, Black-tailed Skimmer & Brown Hawker also noted.
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| Six-spot Burnet Moth - One of a half dozen today. |
At least a half dozen Six-spot Burnet Moth and the large pools which the transect encircles had a lone Black-tailed Godwit, which Jim tells me is a first in 8 years. However, as he pointed out most of the time he's looking towards the ground! Another birding highlight was a Red Kite, which drifted over Cubbington, a really enjoyable day out!
