Back to Insects

A hot day by recent standards and I couldn't resist going out to look for insects as there weren't many birds about. I met up with Ash and Aaron in Stanley Park where we looked through the mixed Coot and Tufted Duck flock, finding 2 each of Pochard and Shoveler with them. A Migrant Hawker dragonfly (my first ever) was flying around the bridge area and started a good run of insect species during the day. At the north end of the lake around the island a young Grey Heron was fishing close to the path giving great views although it failed to catch anything whilst we watched it.

We walked round through the Woodland Gardens and then round the golf course on the bridlepath where there were plenty of butterflies including Small Skipper, Red Admiral and plenty of Gatekeepers, although we didn't see any Small Copper which was out main target. Dragonflies were also present in good numbers and we saw at least 7 Brown Hawkers, another 2 Migrant Hawkers and 2 female Common Darters. There weren't many moths about today but I still managed to add a new species to my list, a Spindle Ermine.