A Magical, Mostly Macro, Day - on 17th May, 2016

With a relatively good weather forecast for Tuesday (mainly sunny, with light breezes) I took the decision to have a day out seeking dragons, damsels, and butterflies.

Wanting to get to the target areas as soon as possible, I bypassed my usual owling sites and took the quick route to Rutland Water. Here, I made directly to the Egleton side of the reserve, and the dipping pond near the centre. I'd seen Hairy Dragonfly at this spot last year and was hoping for a repeat. I spent some time searching the area, but the only photos I took were of a Green-veined White butterfly.

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Looking for a more productive site, I set of to the south side of Rutland Water, and the Lyndon Reserve. Outside the Visitor Centre, there is a small pond, which featured in my last post, and I was keen to see what had happened since that visit.

A spider was the first thing I photographed. I don't know what species this one is, but I'm pretty sure that it's one of the Wolf Spiders.

Wolf Spider species (?) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

There were several Red and Black Froghoppers around the pond. These are only approximately 10mm long.

Red and Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

On this visit, I only saw the one newt in the pond, but I did manage some slightly better shots than I did the previous time that I'd seen newts here.

Smooth Newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) (female) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

The main attraction here was, of course, the damselflies! Whilst they were not particularly numerous on this occasion, they did keep me busy. Once again, however, my photographic efforts were somewhat frustrated by the limited access. I did, briefly, see one damselfly, which I believe was a teneral Azure Damselfly, but all the rest seen were Large Red Damselflies. These were seen in several stages of their life-cycle.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female - exuvia below) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

At first I thought this next one had not yet emerged, but then I noticed the 'white string' and what appears to be a tear on the back of the thorax, so I believe it's an exuvia.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (exuvia) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I'm still very much a novice when it comes to the odonata, so please tell me if/when I get something wrong! I believe this next image to be of a teneral male. I'm going by the not fully developed colouration and the slightly drooping abdomen.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I think this is either an adult or immature male. I'm more used to seeing adult Large Reds with red on the side of the thorax and a red 'collar', which is why I'm expressing doubt.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

These next two are of adult males as I'm more used to seeing them. Until I started taking macro shots, I'd never appreciated that fabulous metallic top to the head and thorax!

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Whilst there, I also witnessed this species mating. I found it interesting that there seemed to be a short period (perhaps only lasting five minutes) of orgiastic mating with several pairs in close proximity, and then nothing. This only happened twice in the nearly two hours that I was at this spot.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (mating) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I was in danger of loosing sight of my main objective for the day, which was a visit to Ketton Quarry - a disused quarry on the eastern edge of the county of Rutland and which has a reputation for its butterflies. I'd never been to this place before, so was looking forward to a visit.

I soon found the place and wandered into the reserve. The first problem I had was in trying to sort out which would be the best location. My first venture was down into an area which I subsequently found out is known by 'the regulars' as 'the Barbecue'. This looked to be an interesting area, and I started to explore.

The first thing of interest that I found was a Bee Fly. I'd never knowingly seen one of these before, although they are, I understand, quite common. I never saw it settle on anything but, fortunately, it had a habit of hovering. I wish I could have frozen that wing motion better. If you want to know more about this fascinating insect, I recommend Phil Gates's post on the subject which you can find here.

Bee Fly (Bombylius major) - Ketton Quarry

Shortly after this I spotted one of my target species - a Grizzled Skipper. I've never photographed this species before. This one was quite obliging.

Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) - Ketton Quarry

It was while trying to relocate this butterfly after it had flown that I found a Common Lizard. Amazingly, it was only two days previous to this that, in reply to a comment by ADRIAN, on this blog I'd said "if I knew of a place for lizards near here, I'd be there in a flash!". This one didn't present itself out in the open but at least it didn't scurry away when I approached it!

Common Lizard (Lacerta vivipara) - Ketton Quarry

It was while I was trying to find the Grizzled Skipper again that two more people arrived. It turned out that the quarry was their 'local patch' and so I gained all sorts of useful information whilst chatting with them.

I continued to explore, and found a Comma.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - Ketton Quarry

One of the two gentlemen was slightly limited in his mobility, but the other very kindly offered to show me round the area whilst his friend remained in the Barbecue. I wish I had made a note of this gentleman's name as he was so helpful.

He first tried to find me Green Hairstreak, but the sun was intermittent and it was a bit breezy in their favoured location, so none were seen. He then took me to another area to try and find Dingy Skipper, and we soon found some. First, though, we found my first Small Heath of the year.

Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) - Ketton Quarry

We didn't waste any time on this relatively common butterfly as the Dingy Skippers were calling. A pair of skippers gave themselves away by having a period of interaction with each other. Although my guide was carrying a camera, he very generously let me have first shot at getting photos. Here's some of a relatively pristine specimen - I think it's a male. It was the first time that I've photographed this species too!

Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages) (male) - Ketton Quarry

A short distance away, another Dingy Skipper was found - a dingy Dingy Skipper, as noted by my guide! I think that this was a tatty female.

Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages) (female) - Ketton Quarry

We then wandered back to the Barbecue to rejoin my companion's friend, who beckoned us over to show us a Grizzled Skipper that he'd been watching.

Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) - Ketton Quarry

Hopefully, this will not be the last time that I connect with this delightful species.

The two gentlemen departed, and I suddenly realised that it was 16h00 and I was hungry and very thirsty, and had forgotten to have my lunch, not having had anything to drink since 09h00, so I returned to my car, stopping to look at the holes left by Hornet Moth larvae in the base of some nearby trees.

holes left by Hornet Moth (Sesia apiformis) larvae - by Ketton Quarry

The two skippers, and the lizard had been on my target list for the day, and I'd only missed out on Green Hairstreak (butterfly) and Adder (snake). It was now time to head homeward, and try and find some Little Owls en-route. I thought that I was going to be out for a duck, but one was spotted at my LO Site No.41. It occurs to me that, sadly, this is the first image I've posted of a Little Owl for a long while.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.41
I fully expected the day's excitement to be over, but as I drove away from the owl nest tree I spotted what I took, at first, to be Yellowhammer in the field beside the road - although the location wasn't right. As I got nearer I realised that I was seeing my first Yellow Wagtails of the year. There were four males and two females. I quickly got my car into a position where I could observe, and got the camera out again!