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Thursday 5 May 2011

A few days Butterflying

With my recently acquired interest in Butterflies growing, the next few days were to be spent seeing some new species and also improving on previous poor photographic efforts.

First stop was Twywell Hills and Dales with Dingy and Grizzled Skippers the target species as I had only briefly seen one of the former, and had only previously managed a few poor pics of the latter during a couple of visits to Foulden last year.

With cloudy and windy conditions and even a brief shower, things weren't initially looking promising but having found a nice sheltered gulley, eventually the sun came out and so did the Dingy Skippers with good numbers being present and allowing great photo opportunities.

After one brief Grizzled, eventually another was located amongst all the Dingies, and which posed nicely for photos too.

A number of other species were seen including Green Hairstreaks with the one photo'd below having damaged wings and was found crawling around in the grass. A good number of other observers throughout the country have been reporting other species, notably some of the Blues, with deformed wings, and it is believed that the very dry conditions we are experiencing at the moment is having an effect during their emergence.

A few Small Heaths, Common Blues and this Brown Argus were amongst the other species seen.


This Hairy Dragonfly was also found resting on vegetation, and as I'd never seen one perched before or got a photo of one, it was a very welcome bonus. A quick check after at the pond on site revealed a few more Hairies patrolling the pool along with a male Broad-bodied Chaser.

The other port of call today was Sywell Wood for my first new species, Wood White, with a couple quickly located along the main the path and a further half dozen or so present along a sheltered sunny ride off to the left.

They were a very distinctive White, with their small size and feeble flight, and characteristically always keeping their wings closed when landing. Although they always seemed to be on the move, with a lot of patient stalking one finally gave itself up for a decent photo.