Bird news this week is unsurprisingly limited, although we did have the first returning wader with a Green Sandpiper on the river last Saturday. Otherwise, it has been insects that have provided most of the interest. The most prominent of these were Banded Demoiselles with unprecedented numbers in the village. In one area of Himalayan Balsam by the river I got to 120 before I stopped counting…
They have also been turning up well away from water with,
for example, regular sightings in our garden.
I also saw my first Southern Hawker of the year yesterday
(down Vicarage Lane) and my first Four-spotted Chaser…
The chaser was seen in the Magic Garden. Since they have
taken out most of the phragmites the wildlife interest of the garden has
dropped significantly but I also had at least three Emperor dragonflies there…
Including one ovipositing…
Butterfly numbers have also been good with Meadow Browns being
particularly numerous but I also picked up my first Small Skipper of the year…
And this (very small) Small Tortoiseshell…
It doesn’t show in the photo but it was only around 3/4s the
size of normal ones. Second generation are smaller perhaps?
The most encouraging news is that Chris did a count of
White-letter Hairstreak near Thrintoft this morning and tallied up at least 45
butterflies.
Continuing the lepidoptera theme, Cinnabar Moth is very
scarce in the village, in fact I have only ever seen one individual, but I
counted 32 Cinnabar caterpillars on a small area of Ragwort this morning…
Finally, I found this striking little fly…
Which I think is Psychocephala rufipes. The distribution maps show this as very much a southern species but like so many other insects it has been moving relentlessly north and is now apparently quite widespread in Yorkshire.
