THE WHITE ADMIRALS ARE OUT!

Following reports at the weekend that in Suffolk in several places White Admiral butterflies were emerging I thought I would visit my local hotspot for these beautiful butterflies which is the SWT reserve at North Cove in the hope of seeing my first of the year. I wasn't to be disappointed as I walked up to the entrance of the reserve I immediately spotted two individuals fluttering around the path to the river through the trees. A walk along this path and around the reserve revealed up to 12 freshly emerged insects feeding on the flowers of the Bramble and sometimes disappearing up into the canopy of the trees to eventually flutter back down again.

   The caterpillars of these butterflies rely on honeysuckle to feed on and a reduction of this plant in woodlands has led to a decline in the numbers and colonies of the White Admiral. Much of this loss of the honeysuckle has been attributed to the increase in deer numbers that happily feed on it destroying the growth. I love watching and photographing these insects as they gracefully glide through the woodland glades so I am always happy to see them again each year and I'm sure I will be back again soon.

   Also seen in the more open grassy areas were lots of fresh Ringlet butterflies which always look their best before their colour fades as they age. These are a very common butterfly found all over the country emerging during July but as many species are this year they are a little early.

 

ORCHIDS AND FLEDGING BIRDS AT LOUND LAKES

   At the weekend I went down to the SWT reserve at Lound Lakes to see the display of Common spotted and Heath spotted orchids although it is difficult to be certain of identity in many cases as they hybridize so readily between the species. The damper areas were covered in flowers showing above the grass as you can see below but I was excited to come across a pure white version of the orchid which is unusual to find although not especially rare. By the time I found this white orchid the sun was fully out which doesn't help photography as the white highlights get 'blown out' very easily.

   A walk through the wooded areas of the reserve revealed many recently fledged birds including this little Blackcap who along with its brothers and sisters were deep in the vegetation hiding from the local predators waiting for the parents to return with a feed.

   Returning to the car park I was greeted by orchestra of screeching Kestrel chicks that had also just fledged and were calling for the adults to feed them. The nest box sits in a tree near to the car park and the chicks had left the box and were all sitting on branches nearby, one of the chicks especially seemed very young and still had many of its downy feathers but it was nice to see that they had survived with all the marauding corvids around and being so close to the public around the car park and visitor centre.

    During my walk around I also came across several Large Skipper butterflies fluttering around on the grassy meadows where the Ragwort was just about coming into flower and on some of these plants the caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth were plentiful and easily identified with their distinctive colours which are meant to say to anything that might want to eat them "stay away I don't taste nice".

 

OULTON MARSHES FLOWER MEADOWS

   Following a recent day spent with the SWT warden for the lower Waveney who took me onto these meadows to explain and show me some of the flora found on these rare habitats I returned with the camera to record one of the most unusual, the Marsh Pea. This plant is regarded as nationally scarce and is only found in fenland with chalky groundwater available where it uses it tendrils to climb the tall grasses and reeds in the same way as a conventional pea climbs supports in the garden.

   A wander around the meadow revealed a multitude of more common plants and flowers including some lovely Bogbean in flower.

    As well as the flora many insects thrived in the damp conditions including some Black tailed Skimmer dragonflies shown below and lots of Grass Snakes that would disappear into the undergrowth upon my approach. A beautiful environment to spend some time but not good for my hayfever!

JUNE AT CORTON NSW

   I popped over to Corton new sewage works hoping to see the Bee orchids and I wasn't disappointed as there were hundreds around the entrance to the site. They seemed to me to be taller this year and I'm not sure if this is due to the weather conditions this spring or the fact that the water company has not cut the banks for a while allowing the orchids to flourish. Anyway below are a few pictures including some of the spectacular white variety known technically as Chlorantha.

   Moving away from the site entrance to the pond area I could see on the grassy banks that there had been an emergence of six spot Burnet moths which numbered thousands. All of these freshly emerged insects were busy feeding on the flowers in the area and mating and I have certainly not seen this many before and find it amazing that they all emerge at the same time as if there is some pre ordained signal to do so. Their striking colouration made for a breathtaking sight as every available grass stem seemed to be occupied by at least one insect and the pictures below do not do justice to the event.

 

DRAGONFLIES AT NORTH COVE

   I've been waiting for the first group of dragonflies to hatch for a few weeks now and when I visited the Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve at North Cove I was lucky enough to see 4 different species on the wing there. The most unusual of these was the Norfolk Hawker which is only found around the broads in Norfolk and Suffolk and is one of the earlier dragonflies to appear and is only seen for a month or two in the early summer.It is a very distinctive dragonfly with its brown body and green eyes and is shown below.

   Secondly is a Hairy Dragonfly which is a colourful insect known for its hairy thorax.

  Next a Four-spotted Chaser which as the name suggests has four spots on each pair of wings and yellow markings down its side.

   Now a Scarce Chaser which as the name suggest is limited in its range and is not found widely and is shown here in the female (orange/brown) form and the male (blue) form.

   Finally photographs of a pair of Azure damselflies laying eggs in a pond with a nice reflection and another view of the magnificent Norfolk Hawker.

NO SUN OR SWALLOWTAILS AT STRUMPSHAW

   Saturday I went over to the RSPB reserve at Strumpshaw Fen hoping to see the newly emerged Swallowtail butterflies but unfortunately the weather changed almost as soon as I arrived and the sun disappeared meaning that my chances of seeing them were very much reduced. The main emergence of these beautiful butterflies occurs in late May and June but in a good year there might be a smaller showing later in the summer. This later showing that I have pictured before usually consists of smaller butterflies with slightly less dramatic markings so I was hoping to see these pristine early examples and see the difference myself. Not wanting to return home empty handed I decided to carry on round the reserve spying several orchids in flower on the meadows, dragonflies patrolling the ditches and numerous birds and insects on the wing. Many of the insects were displaying beautiful colouration so I got out my macro lens and took a few shots which are shown below, some of which the identification is not known to me.
   Firstly this weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus) which looked blue in the light.

   Now this lovely coloured beetle with the long antennae (Agapanthia villosoviridescens)

   This looks like it may be some sort of sawfly possibly from the Ichneumons family.

   Finally this wasp mimic beetle as I call them although I'm not sure if that is the proper term.

 

DAMSELFLIES AT LOUND LAKES

   Last week on a reasonably sunny warm day I visited the Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Lound Lakes to have a look at the damselflies that were on the wing then. I wasn't disappointed with a variety of species showing well along with the bird life which included Blackcaps, Whitethroat, Reed warblers and a multitude of common residents. My damselfly identification skills are fairly basic so I enjoy photographing them and then going home to identify them with the aid of text books but they are getting better with practise.The first damselfly pictured was among the most abundant and vivid in colour and is the Azure Damselfly.

   This next species is the Blue-tailed Damselfly which can appear in different colour forms depending on sex and maturity some of which can be seen below.

   These next two pictures show the Red-eyed Damselfly, firstly an immature specimen and then a mature one both coincidentally eating an unlucky prey insect.

   This last example is of a Common Blue immature female.

   Also present and beginning to show well were some of the orchids for which the reserve is known that are mainly Common Spotted but also a few Southern Marsh variants both being shown below.