Hairstreaks and Skippers......

31 July - Brown Hairstreaks and Silver-spotted Skippers that is...... firstly, good views of male Hairstreaks at Shipton Bellinger, in warm sunny spells, always an exciting butterfly to see...... then on to Aston Rowant and a lot of one of my real favourites, Silver-spotted Skippers on the wing, easier to photograph with some cloud cover as they buzzed around rapidly as soon as the sun reappeared. They have so much character!. Also lots of Chalkhill Blues on the wing.

Ravensroost

13 Jul - a fine warm summer day during the current heatwave, and a most productive morning walk at Ravensroost - no less than 18 species seen, including the Ravensroost specials Silver-washed Fritillary and White Admiral but also the highlight, a White-letter Hairstreak at eye level- my best ever sighting of this species, I've only seen them flitting around the treetops previously. Also Purple Hairstreaks near the car park.

Lower Moor Dragonflies

21 May - A productive couple of hours at Lower Moor in CWP. I'm aware that this is a good site for Downy Emerald, and I saw at least 8, quite active in the warm sun - but I'd read recently that Hairy Dragonfly can also be seen here,

and I saw a male hawking actively and not settling - my first of these quite scarce dragonflies that I've seen in the Water Park.