Hickling Broad

A very enjoyable day at Hickling Broad yesterday - amazingly we must have seen around 20 different Swallowtails and only one other butterfly - a Speckled Wood. Emperor moth caterpillars were every where together with Wooly Bear (caterpillars of Garden? Tiger moths. Lots of other insects and also birds including flying Bitterns and Cranes.

RPS Visit to Strumpshaw Fen

 The weather for our Nature Group visit to Strumpshaw was hot and sunny - should have been just right for Swallowtails but, alas, this year they are in short supply as for other butterfly species. A few of us did photograph one that stayed for a few moments on a thistle in the Meadow. Dragonflies, on the other hand, were plentiful with Four-spotted Chasers (1-3)  and Scarce Chasers (4-6) and Norfolk Hawkers (7,8) the principal performers. I was trying different 'artistic approaches so quite a variety of backgrounds etc!

Strumpshaw RSPB Dragons and Butterflies

Yesterday's Nature Group/East Anglia RPS outing to Strumpshaw Fen coincided with the warmest day of the year with max. temperature of 28 degrees so plenty of Dragonfly and Butterfly activities but not much keeping still. We did manage a good range of species including the Scarce Chaser (female and male), Black-tailed Skimmer, Four-Spot Chaser, Red-Eyed Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle, Azure and Variable Damselflies, Brimstone and Swallowtail. We also were shown Norfolk Hawkers in flight but failed to capture an image! (other insects to follow!!)

Butterflies and Dragonflies Majorca

Lovely to see a Swallowtail Butterfly (egg laying as well as nectaring) at the S'Albufera reserve yesterday, along with a Long-Tailed Blue. Dragonflies were more numerous than previously with Common Darter and Black-Tailed Skimmer photographed and ?Emperor hawking the reeds. Speckled Bush Cricket put on a good display while the bees that inhabit strange clay nests (?provided or built by them) all round the visitor centre.

 

 

Strumpshaw Fen on a Warm but Windy Day

It was a bit too windy for insect photography today but managed to snap three of Strumpshaw's special species: Scarce Chaser, Norfolk Hawker and Swallowtail Butterfly. Also Red-eyed Damselfly, Marsh Orchid, Heliophilus pendulens, Eristalis species, Tortoiseshell feeding and Nursery Web Spider