☀️26C Friday 5th July 2019 ~ A less hectic day today with a pleasant few hours at Ryton Wood, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust.
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| Purple Hairstreak taking refuge! |
'Mad dogs & Englishmen go out in the midday sun' summed up today's visit with Alan Boddington. It was a scorcher but the woodland areas helped take the heat out of things. Even the
Purple Hairstreaks were taking refuge under the leaves.
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| Year-First Southern Hawker |
Several dragonflies today included a year-first
Southern Hawker, plus
Brown Hawker and
Common Darter also noted.
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| Meadow Brown taking a breather |
We did spend some time at the well-known
Purple Emporer trees but no sign of any just yet, although there were plenty of
Purple Hairstreaks up in the canopy. The usual hoards of
Meadow Browns on the wing, along with growing numbers of
Ringlet, but no
Gatekeepers to be found.
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| Large White from today's visit. |
Having not seen any
Large Whites at all this week they were well represented today with at least eight noted. A few other
White Sp. flew through but never settled for ID purposes.
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| White Admiral |
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| Silver-washed Fritillary |
(15)
Silver-washed Fritillary and (11)
White Admiral along with various counts of
Small & Large Skipper ended a fantastic week covering 5 reserves!
