Paxton Flowers

A few flowers from a walk at Paxton Pits. We have a couple of Saturday public walks at the reserve (31st May/28th June) that involve the wild flowers that can be found growing there so a bit of homework on species (and practice photographing them, which is surprisingly difficult!).

Rutland Water

We visited Rutland Water today with 10 photographers from the RPS Nature Group. The conditions were difficult with a very strong wind which kept a lot of birds on the ground or water. We did see a very occasional Hobby pass very quickly and certainly had a very enjoyable time at the reserve with enough birds to keep the cameras clicking. The fields of buttercups are at their best. The Damselflies and Dragonflies were staying close to the shelter of vegetation.There were more butterflies than expected - Speckled Wood, Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, 3 types of White, Brimstone and Peacock all on the wing.

 

Very Low Butterfly Numbers

 Today we were doing the monthly Butterfly and Dragonfly counts at Paxton Pits and I only saw single Speckled Wood and single Red Admiral. Damselflies and Demoiselles were more abundant and there were several Scarce Chasers, one Hairy, several Norfolk Hawkers and one Emperor on the wing. The weather was warm but strong breeze and mostly overcast. Smaller insects didn't mind the conditions - in fact it looked like it was very conducive to start the next generation for Leaf Weevils, Marsh Hoverflies, Scarlet Tigers and Harlequin Ladybirds!

Elephant Hawkmoth

Last year, we had a lot of Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars on our Greater Willowherb and I kept one chrysalis over the winter. Yesterday, it emerged as this beautiful moth. I released it in the morning back onto Greater Willowherb and it remained completely stationary hoping its camouflage would protect it. It flew off during the night.

Paxton Insects

A few images from a walk round Redlands area of Paxton. Great number of Soldier Beetles at the moment, many mating plus Scorpion Flies and large numbers of Damselflies. All the Damsel photos I took turned out to be Common Blue Damselflies but there was quite a variation in markings from the adult male, teneral male, green form of female and blue form of female. Grizzled Skippers still on the wing, plus several dragonflies - here a female Scarce Chaser. Several Hoverflies (here Pipiza noctiluca) plus their larvae on the nettles