I had some appointments in the morning, so with the very welcome change in the weather decided to visit Noar Hill in the afternoon. Ian and I had been there mid April and had been lucky with the Dukes, today I was hoping for some more of them and hopefully something else.
The skies were clear and it was t-shirt weather at last as I walked from the lane up to the reserve just after midday.
There is usually a male Orange Tip around the entrance gate, but today I could only find this Comma.
A visit to the first quarry, found nothing. I then walked up the path to the right of the reserve and had a breif view of my first Dingy Skipper of the year. A Yellowhammer was singing from the bushes along with a Whitethroat. The Yellowhammer, though, showed the best.
I walked back to the main path and dropped down into the first pit. I immediately disturbed a small butterfly that then settled on a cowslip, another Dingy Skipper. Named for their appearance, it is a shame as they do look quite spectacular when first emerged.
The Dingy was then chased off by another small butterfly, this time the Duke of Burgundy, a male on territory.
I had my pheromone lure attached to my bag and as I watched the Duke an Emperor moth was flying around and the Duke would fly up to chase it off. The moth never settled and eventually flew off, leaving me with the Duke and the Dingy.
They like the Cowslips.
The Duke perching nicely.
There were plenty of Early Purple Orchids around the reserve, contrasting with the yellow of the cowslips.
Crows calling above alerted me to a Red Kite drifting over.
Walking on I had a brief glimpse of a Green Hairstreak above one of the juniper bushes, but I couldn't locate it again. There were more Dukes though, all males.
This is a female Brimstone that settled in the middle of a small Blackthorn bush and the white colour has turned green from the reflecting green from the leaves.
Nectaring from a cowslip.
I made my way to the far end of the reserve and the sheltered spot that is normally the best place to find Dukes. There were more Early Purple Orchids amongst the cowslips.
I sat down to have lunch on an anthill next to this impressive orchid, note the heavily spotted basal leaves.
As I sat watching another Duke buzzing around this male Orange Tip appeared and took a likening to the Early Purple Orchid.
I didn't think the orchids gave sufficient nectar, but this Orange Tip seemed to have found some.
As I left the pit I noticed this Cowslip lit up by the sun with a dark background.
More Early Purple Orchid and Cowslips.
A close up of the orchid flowers.
I decided to search around some Juniper bushes and found more Dukes, my count was now eight, all males. As I watched on e I noticed another Emperor Moth around me. I placed the lure in the juniper and waited. I was joined by another gentleman and that seemed to change things, the moth taking a liking to his trouser leg. Fortunately he was happy to let me photograph away, thank you.
It was fluttering away, so a fast shutter speed captured the open wings showing the four eyes.
The images we had at Broxhead in April were all of a male settled in the heather, this was a little different and showed the full wing span of the male.
A truly spectacular moth and well worth the expense of the lure.
Then it was gone. I saw it several times as I walked around, but this was the best encounter.
So it was back to the Dukes. It was now quite hot in the pits and hollows and the Dukes were sunning themselves, appreciating the change in weather like us.
Here settled in the Juniper branches.
I did several circuits of the reserve in search of Green Hairstreak, but without any luck. There were though Holly Blues in the usual place by the Holly bushes on the ledge. This one was inside a bush.
Early I had a Cowslip with a dark background. Courtesy of the pits it is also possible to get the Cowslips with a blue background.
With cloud building I decided to call it an afternoon and headed out of the reserve.
Lovely to have sunshine and butterflies, the last time really being in Australia in February, will the weather hold? We shall have to waits and see.
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