Lincolnshire Butterflies

I had a few pieces of luck this weekend that resulted in a fantastic wildlife experience at Chambers Farm Woods in Lincolnshire. The first piece of luck was  whilst wondering where to go this weekend I was browsing the web and saw a note on the Butterfly Conservation website that black hairstreaks had been seen at Chambers Farm Wood.

The second piece of luck (bearing in mind I had never been there before, the place is massive and the black hairstreaks are confined to one very small place) was that I bumped in to a chap who was actually looking at them as I walked up to him.

What was quite difficult was to see them settled as they spent most of their time flitting high up in the canopy and settling out of sight, but during the time I was there on or two individuals spent no more than 5 minutes at a level where they could be photographed.

Eventually one did pose long enough for me to get some reasonable shots that I was happy with.

There was plenty of other insects around including a brimstone, white admiral, broad bordered hawk moth, a couple of dragonflies and two types of longhorn beetle.

There were also plenty of biting insects around but nothing could spoil the experience of a close encounter with some quite beautiful and very rare butterflies.

Typical view

Typical settled pose

Quite a few in flight at once

Slightly closer

Fleeting view at low level 

Shame about the grass

Closer

Eventually one came down

Broad bordered hawk moth

Broad bordered hawk moth

Broad bordered hawk moth

Brimstone

Large skipper

Demoiselles

I have always wanted to see banded demoiselles close up and after only brief encounters in the past I finally caught up with some yesterday.

Having been tipped off with a location along the banks of the river derwent I headed there yesterday.

I arrived at around mid-day and was surprised that the first bird of the day was a barn owl! Also bullfinch, kingfisher and whitethroat all in the immediate vicinity.

As soon as I started looking I found a banded demoiselle a male that posed nicely before doing a disappearing act and over the next 3 hours there were at least 10 probably more all within 20m of the car.

It seemed as though the beautiful demoiselles were more confined to the banks of the river, that was almost impossible to get near.

Quite pleased with the macro lens.

Tophill Kingfishers Again

I've been all over Yorkshire this week but the place I have kept returning to is the North Marsh hide at Tophill Low for the kingfishers.

yesterday they didn't disappoint , this was the first time this year that I have seen 2 at the same time.

They were really feeding well and must have caught at least 6 fish between them in the time I was there.

There was also the welcome distraction of a marsh harrier, cuckoo, water vole, roe deer and fawn and the resident reed warblers.

The sharp flight shot remains elusive but not for the want of trying.