Monday 18th. May 2015

The latest High Elms LNR butterfly transect showed very little change from the last , with just 26

butterflies of 10 species , plus 9 Orange Tip eggs being recorded . The only new species was

Common Blue , with just a single male found . 6 Green Hairstreak were recorded , with four of those

being egg laying females , on their favoured Bird's-foot-trefoil . One of them showed a small part of

the brown upper-wing colour , explaining why they are so hard to spot in flight . A few Burnet

Companion , day flying moths , and a couple of migrant Silver Ys were also found . On the way

round , another Fly Orchid was found , now in full flower , and 7 Man Orchids , which were just

starting to flower , from the bottom up as usual . Also found was the first White Helleborine of the

year , though still to flower .
A visit to Spring Park Pond proved very quiet indeed , with just two immature Azure Damselflies ,

and about a dozen Large Red Damselflies , two of which were attempting to clasp and mate with the

other , only no one told them that they were both males , as can be seen by their markings .
Friday turned out a bit better than forecasted , so decided to have a look at New Hythe , especially as a couple of Turtle Doves and Cuckoos had been reported recently . Everything was very wet from the previous day's rain , but hearing a Cuckoo calling I made my way to the Sunken Marsh , catching just a glimpse before it dropped out of sight . Even if it hadn't , I would have been shooting into the sun , so decided to get round to the river side , arriving just to see the back end of the bird fly across it and calling from the other side . I stayed in cover hoping that it would return , but it didn't . I was just about to give up , when the rarest sighting of the day appeared from the vegetation behind me , Phil / Sharp by Nature , the local blogger . Phil was thinking the same as myself , and with the bird seemingly staying over the river , we had a chance to catch up on things , before moving on over the mound , around Abbeymead and across the railway to the East Scrub . Lots of immature damselflies

on the way , the best being this immature drab form female Common Blue Damselfly . Another senior moment , should read immature Red-eyed Damselfly - thanks for the correction Marc . Also found in

the vegetation was a 14 Spot Ladybird / Propylea 14-punctata , and a small colourful moth that I have

been trying to identify since , without any joy . If anyone could help with the ID , it would greatly appreciated . In the East scrub , we had a fleeting glimpse of a female Hairy Dragonfly , but apart from that and several singing Nightingales and Common Whitethroats , our walk back along the millstream was un-interrupted . Phil left , but I decided to give the Sunken Marsh another go , first having my lunch . Arriving , I heard the Cuckoo in exactly the same place as earlier on , and like earlier it moved almost straight away , calling soon after from the Poplars along the railway line . I started back to the car park , stopping at the last fishing platform before the tunnel , alongside the paper factory . I thought I might get an in-flight shot of the bird , but that didn't happen either . But , whilst I waited , a rustle in the reeds and a reed stem toppling over , alerted me to a Water Vole , just 2 mtrs. from where I was standing . With the large lens attached to the camera , I couldn't get far enough away to get it in focus , so had to swap to the 100mm. macro lens . The Vole took my

presence and the lens change in it's stride , and gave a most enjoyable 10 minutes as it demolished a small area of reedbed at an astonishing rate . The amount eaten to the size of the animal

was incredible , but it all came to an end as a couple of dog walkers approached , although completely at ease with the sound of the camera shutter , the first sound of their voices and the Vole disappeared deep into the reedbed , not to be seen again . I had intended to head home , but something made me turn off at the Ham Street water treatment plant and park up again . A short walk towards the diver's bridge found a male Hairy Dragonfly patrolling the ditch , and although I waited for almost half an hour , he didn't come to rest once . Also in the ditch , a Moorhen's nest with at least two eggs . I then had another look along the ditch to the East Scrub , finding as before very little , but as I approached the Scrub , ringing out from alongside the railway was the call of the Cuckoo again .

I made my way to the far end of the ditch , and against a dull sky managed to get a few shots of the bird before flying towards the railway crossing , where it again perched high in the trees . I caught up

with him just as he was making his next move and managed o few in flight shots before it flew acoss the railway line and was next heard over the other side of Abbeymead . Must admit , I was glad he had flown some distance as my energy levels were running on low by now .
On Saturday I made a visit to Hutchinsons Bank and had an enjoyable couple of hours wandering about the site and whilst doing so recorded 16 species of butterfly , albeit 9 of those producing a singleton sighting . Brimstone still the most numerous species , but 5 Common Blue and my first

Brown Argus of the year , a male , added to the mix . Down on the bottom track , a female Holly

Blue was also a year first . No sign of Small Blue or Painted Lady that Martin had recorded in the previous couple of days , but a Long-horned Beetle which I think is Stenocorus meridianus , but

as always stand to be corrected  , also added to the interest on the visit .
With a Fun Walk going on over the Common and surrounding areas , I hadn't intended to go out yesterday , but an afternoon call from Martin had me hot-footing it back to Hutchinson's Bank , where he had found at least 2 Glanville Fritillaries on the wing . Thankfully they were still around

when I arrived and the sun was still out too . A great way to finish off the weekend photographing

this superb butterfly . Hopefully , more will emerge during the next few days , and hope these two survive today's heavy rain and strong winds . I have since read that the species emerged on the Isle of Wight over this weekend too .