After the moth trap taking only minutes to process, an early stroll around the park for some new butterflies was on the cards - only neither the body nor spirit were willing and so it was pushing 10am before arrival and, being a nice weekend day, meant parking by the log stack, all the lower parking being taken.
This Ancistrocerus spp (Potter Wasp) and a bunch of Miris striatus were adjacent to the barn but there seemed little else other than the resident pair of Swallows going in and out of the outbuilding. The aggregate dump path had loads of hovers, possibly many hundreds of Syrphus spp but little variety and in the same area one or two weedy looking Pyramidal Orchids were out as the Common Spotteds start to fade.
Butterfly photography didn't pan out as expected as the very smart Marbled Whites (a dozen or so on the butterfly slope) refused to stop; just singles of Large and Small Skipper, two Common Blues, one Painted Lady and this hyped-up Dark-green Fritillary which did at least perch up.
At the pond the drying out umbellifers meant that last week's insect 'feast' was now 'famine' leaving just the usual dragonflies and this Figwort Sawfly on the usual spot. The Siskins were again very noisy around here although not coming down to drink.
