On Sunday I decided to see if there was anything interesting over at Tanwood. As I was jumping in the car I had a text informing me one of the local Birders had just had 2 Redstarts there ! When I arrived both birds were showing well. The adjacent field was chuffing with Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns. I also saw a single Small Copper and a Small Tortoiseshell. The latter was lovely and fresh and posed for a snap.
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| Small Tortoiseshell Tanwood |
The other part of my morning was dedicated to doing the Butterfly Conservation Big Butterfly Count on a section of my local patch.
As soon as I stepped out of the car, I was greeted with my second Shaded Broadbar moth of the weekend, and lifer yesterday became a patch lifer today !
Butterfly counting commenced and I gathered meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and a very worn Ringlet in quick succession. Next, Large and Green-veined White, and then a Comma. The Skippers needed closer examination but I was happy both Small and Essex were showing, as they had done a few days earlier. Small White and a cheeky Red Admiral were next. The best two were saved for last. A single and flighty Common Blue and then a patch lifer, Holly Blue. I'd never got that close to a Holly Blue, and the wing colour blows easily when photographing them, but I was delighted to get a stab at a few images. 12 species, but a few too many singles sadly.
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| Just a single Common Blue again, but they allcount |
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| Holly Blue |
Of note bird wise as I counted, I saw Green Woodpecker, Whitethroat, Yellowhammer and a female Blackcap. A nice variety of species for a Sunday morning !
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