To be honest, I'd nearly given up waiting for some decent weather, but the Jet Stream seems to have read my blog and gone off to Gairloch to see what all the fuss was about. And what's this it has inadvertently left behind? Sunshine, heat and pleasingly warm breezes.
So, to Little Linford Wood and a certain amount of incongruity.
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Here's the customary opening shot for monthly comparison purposes. It's now nearly impossible to see the dry pond due to all the vegetation growth.
However, it is stranger still, as...
it's now holding water for the first time in ages. Sadly too late for any odonate larva from previous years. But if rainfall can now keep it wet, perhaps there's a chance for future generations of dragons and damsels.
Yes, here we are in the height of summer and the paths still think we're in the middle of a muddy March.
By the edge of the main ride, another conundrum awaited...
was this row of holes made by an insect, a bird or a human? Before or after the tree crashed to the ground?
A fellow wildlife-watcher remarked to me this week that Emperor dragonflies never seem to land. And even if they do, it's impossible to approach them closely before they take to the wing. I agreed with a rueful smile. Been there, got the t-shirt... and the photo of some odo-free vegetation.
After watching several Brown Hawkers and Southern Hawkers patrolling the woodland rides, we spotted a different species as it whizzed passed our noses. A few yards further on, it dropped into the grass to roost. Bearing in mind that I didn't have Very Wrong Len with me, this is as close as I'm ever likely to be to a...
female Emperor!
We even saw a few Marbled White butterflies, and this time after I had complained to a fellow blogger that I never see them. It was a weird day. Good weird, but weird nonetheless.
Time to return to some normal Tense activity, more fitting of an I&T blog. How about mis-identifying plants?
It's yellow. It's a vetch. Could it be a Yellow Vetch?
Finally, although we saw about a bazillion Ringlet butterflies, I couldn't capture a decent image of one, so you'll have to settle for this picture of a small butterfly...
a Large Skipper. Go figure?
It's official. I miss Spring. July freaks me out.
3 comments:
I'll go with Large Skipper.
Saw lots, and others, yesterday t Incombe Hole. The sun really had them out in force.
Well done with the female Emperor, not easy to catch on camera.
Agree with h.m on large skipper - when I miss-identified one last month as an Essex Skipper, I was advised that the hooked ends to the antenna are a good indicator that it's a large. The black wing stripe means it's a boy.
Thanks for the ID assistance, guys. We did have a very brief view of a different Skipper. Much browner. But failed to capture an image or remember any salient features other than browner.
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