Bernwood Forest 26th June

I went along to Bernwood this morning to hopefully catch up with a Purple Emperor.It was quite cloudy when I arrived and quite breezy. No Emperors were seen during the time spent here although the sun did decide to break through just as I had to leave bringing out 3+ Silver washed fritillary's.

 Small tortoiseshell

 Small Skipper

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Large Skipper

 Ringlet

 Large Skipper

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Large Skipper

 Small Skipper

 Large Skipper

Butterflies seen today:-
Small Skipper
Large Skipper
Small Tortoiseshell
Red Admiral
Silver Washed Fritillary
Marbled White
Meadow Brown
Ringlet

Dragonflies seen today:-
Brown Hawker
Broad Bodied Chaser
Ruddy Darter

 Broad Bodied Chaser

Quite a few grasshoppers in the grass, mostly meadow grasshoppers. A few Roesel's Bush crickets were also seen.

 Roesel's Bush Cricket

Dry Sandford Pit/Parsonage Moor BBOWT reserves 24th June

Spent a couple of hours at these reserves today to see how the Marsh Helleborines were coming along and to see what Damselflies and Dragonflies were about. I went to Dry Sandford first then Parsonage Moor.The Helleborines were pretty much in full flower,with Common Spotted Orchids and a few Twayblades also about.

 Marsh Helleborine

 Marsh Helleborine

 Twayblade

 Common Spotted/ Helleborines

 Southern Damselfly

There were lots of other flowers about including 2 Knapweed Broomrapes, one of which was getting on to be around 18" tall, the other was about 12".

 Knapweed Broomrape

 Knapweed Broomrape

 Centaury

 Agrimony

Butterflies seen at Dry Sandford:-
Large Skipper
Common Blue
Small Tortoiseshell
Red Admiral
Marbled White
Meadow Brown
Small Heath
Ringlet

 Marbled White

Damsels at Dry Sandford:-
Southern Damselfly

A common lizard was also seen here.

After Dry Sandford pit, I walked down the road to Parsonage moor reserve.There was a bit more in the way of odonata at this reserve. Common Spotted Orchids were also here with a few Marsh Helleborines.

 Small Red Damselfly

 Common Blue Damselfly

 Small Red Damselfly

 Large Red Damselfly

Dams/Drags seen at Parsonage:-
Common Blue Damselfly
Southern Damselfly 5
Large Red Damselfly
Small Red Damselfly10+
Four Spotted Chaser
Keeled Skimmer 6
Common Darter 3

2 Scarlet Tiger Moths were seen flying around.

New Forest pt II Sat 21st June

It was back down to the New forest this weekend as I'd gained some information on where to find the Heath Fragrant Orchid,a new species for me. Special thanks to Adrian king for this! I'd been to most of the places it's supposed to be, but with no luck. I have known about the site Adrian gave me, and it's the only one that I'd never tried, Probably because it always looked like a hard place to get to. Anyway once on the site I was pleased to finally see around 20 Heath Fragrant Orchids after years of trying. Lots of Heath Spotted Orchids also around.

 Heath Fragrant Orchid"Borealis"

 Heath Fragrant Orchid"Borealis"

 Heath Fragrant Orchid"Borealis"

 Heath Fragrant Orchid"Borealis"

 Heath Fragrant Orchid"Borealis"

 Heath Fragrant Orchid"Borealis"

And here are a few pics of some Heath Spotted Orchids.

 Heath Spotted Orchid

 Heath Spotted Orchid

 Heath Spotted Orchid

 Heath Spotted Orchid

 Heath Spotted Orchid

There was also lots of Oblong Leaved Sundew Around.

 Oblong Leaved Sundew

After this site ,we headed off to Latchmore Brook for the Scarce Blue Tailed Damselfly.6+ were seen including a female in the orange "aurantiaca" phase which I'd never seen before but always wanted to see, so not a bad day!

 Scarce Blue Tailed Damselfly

 Scarce Blue Tailed Damselfly

 Scarce Blue Tailed Damselfly

 Bog Asphodel

 Bog Asphodel

Keeled Skimmer and Southern Damsels were also seen. Silver Studded Blues were flying around.

Aston Rowant NNR 19th June

I Don't know why, but I've never been to this reserve in June. It's usually April for Ring Ouzels or July/August for Silver Spotted Skippers and then noticing loads of orchid seed heads around and wondering what species they could be, so this year I was determined to get there and find out. When I arrived there I couldn't believe what I had been missing, hundreds if not thousands of Common Spotted Orchids in full flower with Pyramidal and a few Fragrant's amongst them. Frog orchid and Greater Butterfly orchids were also seen during my visit.

 Common Spotted Orchid

 Common Spotted Orchid

 Common Spotted Orchid

 Common Spotted Orchids

 Common Spotted Orchid

 Common Spotted Orchid

 Fragrant Orchid"conopsea"

 Pyramidal Orchid

 Frog Orchid

Also in flower on the slopes were Dropwort in amounts i'd never seen before, there was loads of it.
A few clumps of Wild Candytuft were in flower and loads of Wild Thyme.

 Dropwort

 Dropwort

 Wild Candytuft

 Wild Candytuft

 Wild Thyme

While here I was also hoping to see some butterflies, mainly the Adonis Blue. It was cloudy but bright when I first arrived but the cloud did thicken during the time spent here. I did manage to see 1 Dark Green Fritillary while in the linky down area and a few Meadow Brown and Small Heath. After here I drove to the part of the reserve that's to the north of the M40 for the Adonis Blue. Unfortunately the weather was getting worse and then started to rain so no Adonis Blue's were seen although I did see a couple of Common Blue resting on grass stems and a single Marbled White.



 Marbled White

I might, just have to make another visit next week.