King's Wood, Heath & Reach: 27/06/09

This thistle seemed popular today playing host to Marbled White, Large Skipper, bombus sp, and Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet !



A Four-spotted Chaser



You never know who you might bump in to - this Red Fox was soon off after it heard the camera !



A typical posture for a Large Skipper

Heath & Reach - 23/06/09

Plenty of insects around today. In a field next to King's Wood, there were c.20 Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet moths - including this pair in-cop on a pupal exuvia poking out of the pupal case !



Nearby, a pair of Meadow Brown were busy.



A slightly worn Small Tortoiseshell, and the longhorn beetle Rutpela maculata.

Six-spot Burnet

At Sandhouse Lane NR a few Six-spot Burnet moths were present. The larval foodplant is Common Bird's-foot Trefoil - which is abundant on the site.

Black Hairstreak

A new butterfly for me today - three Black Hairstreak at a site in Bedfordshire. As expected, they were always up in the canopy. It was quite breezy and the blue sky soon disappeared. This butterfly has a short flight season - the adults live for about three weeks, so I was happy to get the shot below.

Emperor Dragonfly

Two Emperor Dragonfly were patrolling one the lagoons at Dunstable STW today.

King's Wood, Heath & Reach

Unexpectedly, a basking dragonfly turned out to be a Downy Emerald.



Quite a few Hornet were milling around the woods.

A grave situation

Vandyke cemetary, on the east side of Leighton Buzzard, has small areas of habitat in amidst the mown sections. This was my first Small Copper of the year ! A few days ealier, and my only Holly Blue for the county so far this year was observed, though not photographed.