King's Wood, Heath & Reach: 18/07/2009

As the weather for the next day looked foul, another visit to King's wood was in order. The highlights were three Purple Emperor, but fewer Silver-washed Fritillary. Purple Hairstreak numbers had increased, as did Painted Lady - most of the latter were fresh individuals. A single, fresh Brown Argus was my first for a while. A Southern Hawker stopped by to nibble on its prey.

A Purple Patch

After a week of swanning around the Bedfordshire countryside it was back to work today - but not before one more visit to King's Wood, Heath & Reach.

There, amazingly, I found two Silver-washed Fritillary and Purple Emperor in the same area - both new for me ! A very satisfying end to the break.