July- Butterflies,Dragonflies ,Moths and more

  So July is the month where I usually spend more time looking at other parts of wildlife instead of my first interest of Birds . Last year I was learning more about Butterflies and this year ive learnt a bit more with a couple of new species added to my list. Also this month in particular ive tried to dip my toe into the world of Moths, Dragonflies & Damselflies . Most of these were seen while on my work travels and most lunch breaks have been about getting the books out or getting onto social media to see what ive just seen ! So ill include a few pictures of what ive seen on my travels now ....

 Starting off with some Damselflies I saw while in Keswick .These are male & female Willow Emerald Damselflies.

This Dragonfly I believe is a Norfolk Hawker and seen at my local patch Thorpe Marshes.

Onto Moths now. Ive managed to ID half of the 30 plus species ive found, most were found in stair wells or near lights which were kept on during the night and attracted the Moths to settle nearby.

 

 So a small selection of what ive found .

Ruby Tiger Moth and Nut Tree Tussock Moths



Ruby Tiger Moth

Small Magpie-Micro Moth



Peppered Moth

 



Silver Y Moth



Cinnabar Moth



Early Thorn



Swallow-tail Moth



Campion Moth



Herald Moth

Common White Wave Moth

Butterflies have always intrigued me with there graceful flight and stunning arrays of colour and I was well chuffed to have finally found my first Painted Lady (pictured below) .

Painted Lady

Not particularly rare but I struggled to see one last summer on my travels so to get one this weekend just gone was great and to do it with my son George (5 yrs old) was special. I decided to stopped off at a nice Meadow in full flower on the way home from hes friends Birthday party.

A Proud Daddy with George, after finding our first Painted Lady Butterfly

We got the Bug Hunting bag out of the car (always ready in case of a stop off!) and went about searching for Butterflies, Caterpillers, Bees, Spiders, Grasshoppers and possible Day flying Moths. We were soon trying to catch a Grasshopper and in doing so George spotted a Caterpillar ...

Cinnabar Caterpiller

Grasshopper SP

 Always enjoy watching these little creatures and explained what this would soon be doing as regards the process of it becoming a Butterfly .George was fascinated !
We also connected with 2x Skipper (butterfly  species) .Small and possibly a Essex Skipper (still unsure)

 

Back to my work sightings ive had plenty of Comma ,Speckle wood, Red Admiral and Gatekeeper butterflies ...


Comma Butterfly

Gatekeeper Butterfly



Red Admiral Butterfly



Speckled Wood Butterfly

Finally I took the opportunity to join me good friend "Big Al" fishing on the River at the Patch last week. i was curious to see what fish were in the river and soon enjoyed watching him pull out some Perch and Roach. Bream also found in good numbers although we never caught any that evening.Nice to see up close and yet another part of the habitats wildlife that ive yet to explore/study.



Perch

 Happy Birding
    Ricky