28th June 2009.

Unfortunately Friday was a washout so we didn't go out. On the Warwickshire Butterfly web site Purple Emperor had been seen in Oversley Wood so today I went with Lesley and Alice. We saw Silver Washed Fritillary.

White Admiral, Red Admiral,Comma, lots of Ringlets and some Skippers,I was quite excited to see a large purple butterfly flying about the pine trees. We walked back to the car and saw a bloke taking some pictures of something on the floor, Wow

Purple Emperor.

The purple iridescence is seen at certain angles, otherwise it looks black.

As you can see it got quite friendly, we must have watched it for a good 15 minutes, it was still in the same place when we left.

21st June 2009.

As it was windy on Friday Brian and I decided to go to Snitterfield Bushes. I'm glad that I took my insect repellent with me (Brian). The horse flies liked him much better than me, he suffered several strikes. There was not much about in the woods, however, there is a wild flower meadow at the back of the woods. I have never seen so many Burnet Moths, lots of Ringlet butterflies as well, unfortunately they like to settle down in the grass.

Burnet Moth

Ringlet

13th June 2009

Friday Brian and I went to Oversley Woods, hoping to see dragonflies and butterflies, no luck in that department although we did see a family of Warblers (not identified, I'm not good on Warblers)

Crab Spider.

Nemophora Degeerella (a small moth with antennae 4 times longer than its body, flying like an out of control helicopter)

Sawfly.

The female uses her long sawlike ovipositor to lay eggs inside plant tissue.

7th June 2009.

Friday I went with Brian to Ryton Pools, it's amazing the difference a change in temperature has on the amount of butterflies about, not too many about, although we did have Grizzled,Dingy and Large Skipper.

Dingy Skipper

Large Skipper.

There are more birds visiting the garden then during the winter, we have families of Goldfinches, Chaffinches,Greenfinches and to our surprise Bullfinches, Alice first spotted them on Friday, we have never had them in the Garden before.

The quality is not very good, poor light and through the glass.

30th May 2009.

It's been a busy week, I have taken the opportunity in subscribing to a web hosting service and having my own domain name, this will give me more space on my web site. Last Sunday Lesley and I went to Snitterfield Bushes, Lesley was lucky enough to find a rare Dragonfly for Warwickshire, a Club Tailed Dragonfly. The books do not show it as inhabiting the County, however the Warwickshire Dragonfly Society provided some information, it can be found on the river Avon as far up as Stratford.

Friday we went with Brian to Ryton Pools, he was able to add some butterflies to his collection, although there were not as many about as on our previous visit.

Today Lesley and I went to Hampton Wood, there didn't seem to be too much about, we walked down to the river and Lesley saw several Kingfishers flying up and down the river, I found this youngster sitting waiting to be fed, it made our morning.

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BJKilby