Following on from yesterday’s excellent results I was wondering if today could match it. The morning working at home was interrupted first by the appearance of a Ringlet butterfly in the garden and then later by a hawker dragonfly. This was very active and so it was difficult to get a good view. Initially its predominantly brown body suggested Brown Hawker (A.Grandis) but this was ruled out when I could get a view through the binoculars as the wings were transparent and not brown as would be the case for a Grandis. This left two possible species (or at least the females of those species) – Southern Hawker (A.Cynaea) or Common Hawker (A.Juncea). Although distance and its activity made seeing any distinguishing features hard, location (A.Juncea is rarely recorded in this area) and habitat suggested that Southern was a more likely sighting.


As I am recording this week for the Butterfly Conservation Count I wanted to see what was around the Tarn, so went for a walk in the afternoon. Birds were again sparse although there was a party of 12 Canada Geese which suggests that the adults have successfully raised all their young this year. I managed to find 2 juvenile Robins in the undergrowth but otherwise birds were scarce. The male Emperor Dragonfly was still patrolling his beat near the bridge and at least 6 male Azure Damselflies and a single blue-tailed damselfly were around the edges on the vegetation.

As yesterday there were 6+ large white butterflies, but in one patch I also found 3 Small Whites and 3 Gatekeepers.
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
Large White (Pieris brassicae)
Small White (Artogeia rapae)
Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea)
Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator)
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