How can time fly past so quickly it seemed that we had only just arrived - just shows that we must have been enjoying ourselves
Mothing at Tony's
A big thanks to Tony Williams who set up a moth trap at his own house, filled it with moths and then allowed us to check the contents. There were hundreds of specimens of an unknown number of species, I just photographed those that were more amenable whilst the others did the correct thing and created a list.
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| Privet Hawk Moth, Sphinx ligustri |
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| Coxcomb Prominent |
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| Garden Tiger Moth |
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| Large Elephant Hawk Moth |
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| Fox Moth |
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| Privet Hawk Moth, Sphinx ligustri |
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| Swallow Prominent |
Finally - a beetle
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| Stag Beetle |
La Boudiniere
As soon as we parked I could see plenty of Common Privet, Ligustrum vulgare in flower and I was optimistic that we would find Black Hairstreak. We did - the most worn out specimen that I have ever come across - I immediately thought "Too late"
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| A bit tatty |
Out in the meadow a nice find - Migrant Spreadwing or Southern Emerald Damselfly, Lestes barbarous
Pearly Heaths were everywhere as were Adonis Blues
A nice stand of Pyramidal Orchids - well worth recording.
Meadow Clary, Salvia pratensis
A nice Brown Argus
So I returned to the mini bus to further investigate the Privet and I was rewarded by a fresh Black Hairstreak dropping in - result!
Lurais
Lunch by the river at Lurais proved very rewarding, two life tick dragonflies and a damselfly. First up was a Small Pincertail, Onychogomphus forcipatus sometimes known as the Green-eyed Hook-tailed Dragonfly. Second, a Yellow Clubtail, Gomphus simillimus
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| Small Pincertail - living up to its name |
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| Small Pincertail |
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| Yellow Clubtail |
Finally, in the long grass on the banks of a quieter back stream, lots of Blue-eye Damselflies. Very smart, sometimes known as the Goblet-marked Damselfly.
Le Breuil
This site was a path adjacent to a limestone quarry and a great habitat for Orchids. I managed to record Violet Limadore, Fly Orchid, Burnt Tip, Pyramidal, Bee and Monkey Orchids. Oddly enough as we started to walk along the path it rained. |
| Violet Limadore |
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| Violet Limadore |
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| Violet Limadore |
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| Fly Orchid - nearly over - just in time! |
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| Burnt-tip Orchid - bit of a small specimen but nice to see. |
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| Monkey Orchid |
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| Monkey Orchid |
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| Monkey Orchid |
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| Bee Orchid |
Martizay
Back to the hotel via the Bee Eaters at Martizay, unfortunately a long way off and then through the fields of Prung where we had previously recorded Montagu's Harrier, Stone Curlew and Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail.That was it - it was all over, we had recorded 100 plus birds seen and heard, including Golden Oriole and Black Woodpecker. Thirty species of dragonfly and damselfly were in the log - some really good life ticks included, nineteen species of orchid and just twenty eight species of butterfly rounded it off.
Bouquets
Naturetrek - everything spot on as normal.
Jason Mitchell our tour leader, excellent - great knowledge and a talent for educating us simple ones. Great sense of humour too.
Tony Williams for allowing us to use his garden - really great experience with the moths.
Brickbats - I was going to say French toggers but I did learn the art of keeping a hide window to yourself - so no complaints
