Plenty of butterflies around various meadows, but mainly Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, & Small Skippers. A few Green-veined Whites & Small Tortoiseshells the other only other species found.
Common Hawker the only dragonfly seen, & no damselflies even though I checked the pond near Lynwood.
Pair of Roe Deer at Dimple Hall. The buck stood in the middle of the track looking at me as it waited for the doe to catch up. As soon as they were together they bounded off through the adjacent woodland.
Butterfly count around the two meadows at New Butterworth/Lynwood. Minimum counts :- 340 Small Skippers 36 Large Whites 15 Small Whites 180 Green-veined Whites 12 Small Tortoiseshells 1 Peacock 90 Meadow Browns 63 Gatekeepers
Hundreds of grass moths (only the usual species seen), Antler Moth, Silver-ground Carpet, Straw Dots, Udea lutealis, 2 Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnets (looking very worn now).
Finally found a dragonfly on the pond near Lynwood. a striking male Emperor.
Cox Green Meadow this morning to start the Big Butterfly Count. What a difference to last year's counts.
I counted at least 300 Skippers, the vast majority being Large Skippers, with numerous Small Skippers. They covered every part of the meadow. Also 65+ Meadow Browns, 20+ Gatekeepers, 3 Green-veined Whites, 1 Small Tortoiseshell.
Moths :- hundreds of the commoner grass moths, Common Plume, Celypha lacunana, Udea lutealis, Straw Dot (20+), Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet, Silver-ground Carpet, Latticed Heath (7), Blackneck (3), Shaded Broad-bar (5), Beautiful Golden Y, Gold Spangle (a lifer for me), Antler Moth.
7-spot ladybirds, Common Green & Field Grasshoppers.
17 Large Skippers (normally 100+ at their peak, being more open country than Dunscar I think they may be a bit later all coming out), 3 Meadow Browns.
17 Silver-ground Carpets (some very bright & fresh indicating they may also have appeared later than the Dunscar ones), 14 Latticed Heaths, 8 Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnets,
1 Blackneck, 1 Silver Y, 1 Beautiful Golden Y.
Numerous Nettle-tap, Timothy Tortrix, Celypha lacunana, Bactra lancealana, Agriphila tristella, Agriphila straminella,
7-spot ladybird.
Common Green Grasshoppers, Field Grasshoppers.
Meadow full of the common species of Bumblebees.
A cracking 90 minutes, and the next couple of hours in The Flag Inn watching The Lions stuff the Aussies wasn't bad either !
Overcast morning with a couple of showers, so no butterflies, but I managed to disturb a few daytime moths.
Cox Green Clough & Quarry :- Numerous Bactra lancealana, 10+ Common Heaths, 2 Clouded Borders, 1 Common Wave.
Cox Green Meadow :- Numerous Bactra lancealana, Celypha lacunana, & Silver-ground Carpets. 1 Clouded Border. As a kid this was a quarry and later on a council tip. Years after the landfill was completed wild flowers were introduced a few years ago, instead of the usual tree planting, which has benefited the area instead of seeing a decline in species. Well done Red Rose Forest. It has taken a while for the flowers to appear this year, but things are looking pretty good now. Black Medick, Broom, Bush Vetch, Common Sorrel, Common Spotted Orchid, Creeping Buttercup, Creeping Thistle, Cuckoo Flower, Dandelion, Meadow Buttercup, Meadow Vetchling, Ox-eye Daisy, Red Campion, Red Clover, Southern Marsh Orchid, Tufted Vetch, White Clover, Yellow Rattle.
Thin cloud and a breeze this morning (the sun only broke through as I finished off at lunchtime) meant it was not as good as expected.
Only one Orange Tip and one Small Tortoiseshell amongst numerous Green-veined Whites.
No damselflies or dragonflies even though I checked all the Cox Green & Dimple ponds (Common Pond Skaters only).
Better for moths, with some expected common species :- Numerous Common Heaths 1 Latticed Heath Bactra lancealana Crambus lathoniellus Crambus pascuella Cydia ulicetana Neofaculta ericitella
Highlight was a Stoat at Dimple Chapel. It ran across a field towards me, stopped briefly when it saw me, and scarpered off before I had a chance to focus my camera. Grey Squirrels in Cox Green Clough Rabbits at Horridges Farm The owners of the farm said there were quite a few Pipistrelles out there last night Lots of Green-veined Whites 1 Small White A few Orange Tips 1 Peacock Only two Large Red Damselflies. One in Cox Green Quarry, and one at the pond behind Lynwood. Toad & Frog tadpoles in the ponds at Dimple Chapel
Muntjac. A strange deer sound compared to the usual Roe Deer. A book description of "a coughing bark which sounds like an animal in distress" was spot on. I still could not find it, but as my only sightings are of their backsides disappearing into undergrowth I was not surprised. They have been around for at least 15 years, and the last sighting I heard of was one walking along Smith Lane early morning a few months ago.
Rabbits at New Butterworth
Green-veined Whites, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Woods, Gatekeepers, Meadow Brown. With steady drizzle all morning I was surprised to see any butterflies.
