A couple of visits to Brandon Marsh since returning from Spain and I'm always amazed once I'm back home at how the vegetation has grown in only a few short weeks. While I was away I missed the wader-fest and tern-fest that occurred during my absence, but was rewarded to a degree by a lone
Avocet which visited East Mash Pool today!
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| Record shot of Avocet on East Marsh Pool, Brandon Marsh today! |
Prior to my visit to Brandon most of my time today was spent at Stockton Cutting in search of butterflies and dragonflies, in particular Hairy Dragonfly and Small Blue, which should be on the wing by now. I'd bumped into Richard Mays and Dave Cox at Napton Reservoir earlier, best here a couple of
Lesser Whitethroat and then headed off to Stockton Cutting where Richard and Dave joined me a little later.
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| Hairy Dragonfly - Two seen today and a year first! |
With the temperature already up to a nice 18C it wasn't long before an initial search found a single
Small Blue on the wing. As I was photographing this particular individual, which had now settled a dragonfly whizzed past, two year firsts in the bag, a
Hairy Dragonfly, which had also settled for a photograph!
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| Small Blue - Brilliant little butterfly! |
An excellent hour or so with
Green Hairstreak,
Dingy Skipper and
Holly Blue to add to the list before Richard and Dave arrived, Dave finding the only
Grizzled Skipper of the day and Richard a
Blue-tailed Damselfly.
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| Green Tiger Beetle! |
Other species of note during an excellent visit included various numbers of
Brimstone,
Red Admiral,
Green-vein White,
Orange Tip and thanks to the moth boys
Burnet Companion. I was also intrigued with the
Green Tiger Beetle, and after the Wikipedia that is Richard and Dave, I now know all there is to know about them!
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| Holly Blue - One seen today. |
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| Green Hairstreak - At least four today! |
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| Small Blue |
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| Dingy Skipper - At least 20 today! |
