Wildern LNR

We hadn't been to Wildern yet this year, and went today with one clear objective in mind: see a willow emerald damselfly at Coltsfoot pond.

Shortly after arriving, I thought I saw an 'emerald damselfly' go up into the trees, but I couldn't be sure it was indeed a willow emerald, or even an emerald, for that matter. But then, maybe half an hour later. I did see one hanging from a plant stem; mission accomplished!

A few other odo's around the pond as well, mostly common darters.

Here are today's tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Old Winchester Hill

Old Winchester Hill is our best butterfly site, based on the number of species we've seen there over the last few years. Due to health reasons, we haven't visited the site this year, but felt ready to give it a go yesterday.

Sun was out most of the time, and it wasn't very windy. Chalkies were out playing, and we also saw several common blues and a single brown argus. No adonis blues, though ...

Few small skippers, but no silver-spotted skippers, alas ...

One dark green fritillary showed itself, as well as a few red admirals.

Total of 14 species, three of which were new for the year; here are the tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Not a butterfly, but a fellow lepidopteran: cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort.

'Lavender Garden'

The 'Lavender Garden' is one that Irma drove past plenty of times; time to actually go in!

In terms of butterflies, peacocks were seen several times.

There were lots of 'cabbage whites' seen flying around, but they rarely settled to allow identification. One that did turned out to be a green-veined white; the first this year! 

The garden also has a stream and pond.

Several azure damsels along the stream, and many blue-tails around the pond.

Here are today's tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Crockford Bottom & Hatchet Pond

Despite the '100% cloud cover' forecast, we hopped over to Crockford Bottom today, hoping to see the four damsels/dragons that are typical for that stream (two of which, small red and southern damselflies, would be new for the year for us). 

By far the most common dragonfly was the keeled skimmer. Tons of them, chasing each other and anything else that moved. 

Golden-ringed dragonflies were hunting, but never settled, so no pictures of them ...

Several male and female beautiful demoiselles were fluttering over the stream, occasionally landing for photos.

Small red damselflies were present in abundance (never seen so many on one day!). 

And there were plenty of southern damselflies as well. 

As we left, stumbled across a silver-studded blue who had clearly been through the wars .... 

On the way back, we passed Hatchet Pond, and it would be rude not to check it out. 

Not many damsels and dragons, except for lots of common blue damsels.

For today's tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+), I've combined the data from the two sites:

Magdalen Hill Down

For some reason, we didn't go to Magdalen Hill Down last year. With the warm sunny weather upon us, high time to go there again!

Not that many butterflies, to be honest; maybe it was just a bit too warm? Several chalk hill blues, but not a single common blue .... Most of the small skippers we saw were simply too fast to try and photograph.

And this year's generation of brimstones was out in force!

Several painted ladies as well; warm sunny weather has clearly gotten them to our coast.

And then, totally unexpectedly, a few golden-ringed dragonflies hunting up and down the main path.

Still ten butterfly species, plus the golden-ring. Here are today's tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Hillier Gardens

For the health reasons mentioned earlier, we haven't been able to go butterflying this year, so a trip to Hillier Gardens yesterday was our first opportunity.

As we arrived, the weather was rather cloudy, and, for quite a while, our count was stuck on 'one peacock' ....

But then the sun came out more and so did the butterflies!

In all, we saw nine species. Not as many as we usually see at Hillier's (normally during the summer months we're in double figures), but still pretty decent, given the mostly cloudy day. 

As to odo's, we saw just a single azure damsel ...

Here are the usual tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):