With the awful weather we've been experiencing this past week it hasn't been easy to find much around lately. Last Saturday another butterfly survey produced a pretty poor count with 3 Green Hairstreaks being the best sighting. However, Dragonflies were better with several Broad-bodied Chasers seen including a male that was losing its immature colour to its adult blue colour. This is my favourite stage of the Broad-bodied Chaser. Several Hairy Dragonflies and a few Emperor Dragonflies were also seen. However a Downy Emerald was the best of the Dragonflies, although as normal with this species it didn't settle within range.
Male Broad-bodied Chaser.
Yesterday, back on the patch I found a Hawthorn bush with 40 plus Emperor Moth larvae as well as a few Common Blues roosting.
Emperor Moth larvae.
Roosting Common Blue.
Today, once again in very cool cloudy conditions a search for Small Blues was negative. What was a surprise was a fresh Dingy Skipper. The only other butterflies seen was a single Wall Brown and a roosting Common Blue.
Dingy Skipper.
That broad bodied chaser looks very dark!
ReplyDeleteHi. Admirable photos. Good weekend to you.
ReplyDeleteLovely set of photos Bob. Love the colours on the Broad bodied Chaser.
ReplyDelete