13th August..... Wilstone & Pulpit Hill.

After a wet and windy few days had a trip out to Wilstone reservoir Tuesday morning.

On the way to hide passed a heavily moulting chiffchaff sunning itself, looking very rough indeed. Passed a fishing party of around ten cormorants that had been close to the path, but they headed out towards the centre of the reservoir as we approached, also large numbers of coot in the water both adult and juvenile. In front of the hide good numbers of lapwing, black headed gulls and 5 common terns, a mixture adult and juvenile.

As we made our way to Tringford Reservoir we passed an unidentifiable dragonfly.

Tringford Reservoir was very quiet: a mandarin swam peacefully by.

Volunteers  busy working on the dry canal as we passed and were told that they are hoping to be able to fill the section they are working on early in the new year.

Home for lunch where a stunning painted lady butterfly fed on the marjoram by the back door, with another one on the knapweed in the garden.

On to Pulpit Hill after lunch, weather warming up in the sunshine, good numbers of butterflies out and active.

 

Silver spotted skippers, a warm weather butterfly, enjoying the warm sun and were seen pairing up.

 

Many chalk hill blues. Watched an egg laying chalk hill blue.

Many wild flowers flowering on this chalk grassland on which more silver spotted skippers, painted ladies, small tortoiseshell, chalk hill blues (being dimorphic females and males are a completely different in appearance, female brown, male milky blue) brown argus and more were feeding along with six-spot burnet moths, many types of bee and other insects.

 

 

Later at home a large green dragonfly flew in through the open back door, a female southern hawker I think, it was not happy. Stewart.
Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.