DRAGONFLIES AT WHELFORD POOLS

Another hot day - up to 30 degrees again, but there was a nice breeze blowing so I decided to pay another visit to a local nature reserve near Fairford known as Whelford pools. Here there  are a couple of ponds where a variety of dragonflies can be spotted. Surprisingly there were quite a few cars parked in the carpark and when I walked the short distance to the pond there were already a couple of people there with cameras,

A female with a brood of seven tiny ducklings was at the edge of the pond, hiding in the reeds, although they did venture out once or twice. Also a coot and one youngster. 

Plenty of common damselflies were present and I also spotted a red eyed damselfly, However I spent much of my time watching a male emperor  dragonfly patrolling the pond whilst a couple of females were egg laying in the water. There were also two brown hawkers making some close fly pasts but they didn't stop for photos. I think I will have to try earlier in the day or on a cooler day to see if they perch on any reeds. 

female mallard with her young brood of ducklings

female emperor dragonfly egg laying

SLIMBRIDGE WWT

 I booked my first trip to Slimbridge since lockdown last week, before temperatures were predicted to reach a very warm 31 degrees!  However, I considered that the site does have a good number of trees offering shade and the paths up to the hides on the Holden walkway and the South finger are lined with trees and bushes so probably the heat would be quite tolerable. 

I arrived at 145 pm, and managed to find a parking spot in the shade. Current regulations restrict the number of visitors, hence the car park was less busy than usual. There was no queue get in, so I didn't need  to make use of the 2m apart  painted blue spots on the ramp to the entrance door. There was a one way system through the building and the exit was to be the side entrance used by members coming early.  There were also restrictions as to numbers in the hides which varied from 2 - 13 depending on the size of the hide. Windows were kept open which allowed a nice breeze to come through and kept the temperature down. There was, however, no limit to how long you could spend in each hide, but I think people were expected to use their own common sense if people were waiting outside. However that didn't apply today;  probably many people had come in the morning and already left. 

There were still various broods of young birds around, including moorhens, shelducks, and mallards and good numbers of avocets seen from the Discovery Hide with chicks of different ages.   I was pleased to see the visiting female ruddy shelduck  resting at the edge of one of the scrapes and I also saw at least half a dozen green sandpipers and several little ringed plovers. 

At the Kingfisher hide the male kingfisher made a visit to its nesting hole in the bank, but sadly didn't stay long enough for a photo, a pity as the windows  which are normally barred have just been opened. 

On the dragonfly ponds I recorded an emperor, four spotted chaser and broad bodied chaser as well as common blue and blue tailed damselflies. 

ruddy shelduck

green sandpiper

avocet juvenile

oyster catcher

four spotted chaser

emperor dragonfly

redshank

shelduck family

emperor dragonfly

RAVENSROOST WOOD

Today was my first visit this year to Ravensroost Wood to look for butterflies. According to various sightings records, both silver washed fritillaries and white admirals had been seen here already, in numbers up to 12 each. So I was hopeful of seeing at least one of each!

For the first time on any of my visits, cars were parked on the roadside just outside the small car park, so I found a space there, as it can be quite tight in the carpark especially when trying to turn round.  It was obviously a good day for butterfly spotting, little wind, sunny and very warm.

The first person I met, informed me he had seen a dozen white admiral, mostly on a track parallel to the main ride. I therefore continued up the main ride, seeing  a rather tatty specimen (already?)  of a white admiral and a couple of silver washed fritiallaries. which were reluctant to settle.  Taking a path of to the left I joined another path, but it seemed overgrown and apart from large numbers of meadow browns, I saw nothing else. 

I returned to the main ride and took a route through a gate which leads round a few bends toward a pond.  A few silver washed fritillaries were around, one settling with wings closed briefly,  but no more white admirals, though I have seen them regularly in this area before. However the pond was buzzing with dragonflies and there I found black tailed skimmers, broad bodied chasers and four spotted chasers as well as common blue and large red damselflies. 

I got chatting to another  lady, who told me she had seen several white admirals at nearby Somerford Common so I decided to stop off there next before returning home. 

I did see my first ringlets of the year, but unlike the meadow browns they were reluctant to settle. I had a quick check for white letter hairstreaks but it is still quite early for them. In the field were more meadow browns,  marbled whites and large skippers.  

At Somerford Common I did find a couple more silver washed fritllaries and on pristine white admiral which settled with wings closed. Hopefully I will be able to revisit both sites again before long. 

large red damselfly

broad bodied chaser male

..and female

FARMOOR DUCKS

Tuesday being still sunny and very warm, I drove over to Farmoor Reservoir for a short walk along the causeway and around F1, the smaller of the two reservoirs.  

Approaching the causeway I quickly spotted a dragonfly on the slipway, which when it eventually settled turned out to be a male black tailed skimmer. 

At the end of the causeway I stopped to look at the sectioned off area where there are a number of nesting rafts, currently occupied by a mixture of black headed gulls and coots. 

In that part of the reservoir were further mallards, and black headed gulls, also a another brood of ducklings, which I noticed were not a mallard, but a gadwall family. There was also a rather lonely looking smaller duck, which after a while I decided must be the recently recorded male garganey in its eclipse plumage.  I hadn't realised that garganeys were quite so small, but rather thought they would be approaching a mallard size. I suppose I have not seen any close up before. 

The walk around F1 produced  several more  mallards, some with  broods of ducklings and the odd tufted duck and great crested grebe. I also came across an army of greylags, stopped as if on parade which I found quite amusing to look at!

black tailed skimmer

gadwall and ducklings

gadwall

coot and chick

greylags standing to attentioin

er get up , you're on parade!

garganey

blackheaded gull chick

CHERHILL FRITILLARIES

Another of the fritillaries is now on the wing, namely the dark green fritillary. There are number of places where these can be seen within reasonable driving distance but I opted to visit Cherhill Downs near Calne as a few days ago 17 were recorded therefore I thought my chances of seeing at least one were reasonable! 

After a sunny morning there was more cloud around by the time I reached the reserve at 1.50.pm, but hopefully that would encourage some of the butterflies to settle rather than be seen whizzing past at top speed! 

I parked in a  the usual layby on the nearby A4 and  climbed the fairly steep chalk pathway to the top of the hill, taking in the view of the white horse and  monument that marks this particular National Trust spot. Part way up the path opened out into some grassy banks and it was there I  spotted my first fritillary, nectaring on a thistle at the side of the path, its green underwings confirming its identity as a dark green fritillary. 

Reaching the top I continued along the path looking out for further dark green fritillaries and  even a possible Wall brown, which I've previously seen at this spot but not recorded so far this year. There was an abundance of meadow browns, and good numbers of small heath. I also saw marbled whites, small and large skippers and a couple of rather tatty common blue. Small tortoiseshells were also regularly spotted . 

I followed a gully which was sheltered from the slight breeze, hoping for more butterflies, but there were no more than anywhere else, although   a dark green fritillary did eventually choose to settle and allow a few photos.  

path leading to the top of the hill

meadow brown

dark green fritillary - underwings

path along top of the hill leading to monument, with white horse in background

small skipper

dark green fritillary

large skipper

marbled white

LARGE BLUE

The large blue butterfly is an endangered species in the UK and in 1979 it did, in fact, become extinct. However there have been some successful reintroduction programmes, one of which is at a Cotswold site known as Daneway Banks, and it was there I headed this afternoon. I've made the mistake on previous occasions of trying to see and photograph this butterfly on clear sunny days, however, I've learnt that in very sunny conditions it will keep its wings firmly shut, and therefore the best weather is a day when there is cloud intermingled with sun. The forecast for this afternoon suggested that there would be some sunny intervals interspersed with cloud, so I was hopeful of seeing a butterfly with open wings.

On arrival at the site, I enquired  from some returning visitors if they had seen any large blues, and was told they had found several which was encouraging. I took the lower track, which is signposted, and soon found a couple peering at a butterfly in the grass - a large blue with wings closed. Next to them they had located a pair of large blues mating.  When the sun came out there was an immediate fluttering of a mixture of butterflies amongst the grass, including meadow browns, small heaths and my first marbled whites of this year. 

From time to time I noticed a blue butterfly amongst them, so followed it to see if it settled anywhere; sometimes if flew off into the distance, at other times it settled down in the grass.  At the end of the lower path, there was a narrow path leading upwards to the area of  grassland higher up and I was told there were large blues there. Eventually I found one  which obligingly opened its wings, but this was the only one.

 Heading down the reserve once more, I engaged in conversation with a yorkshireman,  who was visiting from his home in Worcester, who showed me a particularly good  area to see the butterflies, as it had some thyme plants in flower which was attracting them. However, although I saw a few more individuals, none were keen to open their wings! I also learned from him some possible areas to find dragonflies including Paxton Pits - near where my sister lives- and Dry Sandford pit, which I visited recently.  

On the reserve today my butterfly sightings included red admiral,small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, meadow brown, large skipper, small heath, large blue and marbled white.

SILCHESTER COMMON

A very quick visit to  Silchester Common this afternoon to check for silver studded blues. It was quite cloudy but the sun did break through once or twice, which was the signal for several butterflies to lift off and flutter about before landing again amongst the gorse and heather. I grabbed a single shot of a silver studded blue, my 29th butterfly of the year,  before being distracted by some young stonechats perched on nearby bushes. However with no more breaks in the cloud I decided to leave, and drive the  ten minutes  to meet my daughter and family for a socially distanced cup of tea in her back garden. Hopefully I'll be back on a sunny day, and will try and get a photo of the underwings showing those silver studs that give the butterfly its name. 

the heath at Silchester common

stonechat juvenile

BERNWOOD MEADOWS FOR BLACK HAIRSTREAKS

Butterflies with a flight period in June have already begun to emerge so with the current warm spell due to  come to an end tomorrow, I wanted to make the most of today's afternoon sunshine.  Large blues have already been seen at Daneway Banks, and silver studded blues and dark green fritillaries are also on the wing, but I decided that I would go for black hairstreaks today. My usual spot for finding these butterflies is at Whitecross green wood, but with the reserve closed at present, I needed to find an alternative. In fact there are several  places close by that have black hairstreaks so I opted for the closest, which was at Bernwood Meadows, north east of Oxford. I had read that the car park was closed and was prepared to park half a mile down the road in a woodland carpark, but as I drove past there was nothing indicating closure, and one other car was already parked there so I drove in too, Mind you the car park is tiny, with only room for  3 cars! 

I walked through the meadows,,checking the blackthorn hedges for any black hairstreak activity. Being unsuccessful I decided to ask a couple of people who were taking a keen interest in the long grasses. They said they were looking for butterflies and on explaining I   was looking for black hairstreaks, was directed towards the gate into the adjoining woodland. There were blackthorn bushes either side of the gate and I soon spotted a few butterflies flitting amongst the vegetation.  I had to wait a while before any of them settled, wings closed as is usual in the hairstreak family, to  confirm they were in fact black hairstreaks. I think that these butterflies are one of the smartest looking of the hairstreaks, their brown contrasting well with the orange edges to their hindwings. Very few of them stopped, the sunshine had obviously invigorated them, and when they did it always seemed to be in the darkest areas of the bushes! I did find a pair mating, and eventually managed a few photographs of individuals. Altogether I did see about a dozen I think, so not a bad total in a short time. Sadly I did not have sufficient time to explore the meadows further, but on the way back my car, a dragonfly whizzed past and landed on a bush just ahead of me. The yellow body suggested it was  a female or immature species, and when I got home, I found it was a blacktailed skimmer, another dragonfly species I hadn't recorded before,

mating pair of black hairstreaks

black hairstreak

the black hairstreaks were located in the bushes either side of this gate

black tailed skimmer