Summer? Not Quite Over

For the past couple of weeks I have had to provide cover at work while colleagues have been taking their holidays. That has sadly restricted my chances to get out. However, that is coming to an end, and given the good weather yesterday I managed to squeeze a few hours over at Tophill to play with my new camera.

I had been hoping to see some decent migrants on their way through the reserve. Whilst I came across a couple of Willow Warblers and half a dozen Greenshanks, there wasn’t much to practice on other than water fowl in various stages of eclipse. Even the Kingfisher restricted its appearances to the far side of Watton burrow pits.

However, the warmth seemed to have brought out quite a good variety of butterflies and dragonflies, so I decided to practice on them instead. Most of the butterflies appeared to be freshly emerged, perhaps second broods after the earlier wet months. In all, I encountered nine different species.

Common Blue

Gatekeeper

Holly Blue

Peacock

Red Admiral

Small Copper

Speckled Wood

Wall Brown

On the dragonfly side I found each of the resident hawkers –migrant, southern, and brown – along with both Common and Ruddy Darters, and Black-Tailed Skimmers.

Common Darter (female)

Migrant Hawker

Southern Hawker

I think the photography turned out well. I am enjoying this new toy!