WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS It was the insects that were dominating my wildlife sightings again in August, with plenty more dragonfly and damselfly encounters, plus some fabulous moths and butterflies. Early in the month, Bob and I had a call from one of his friends who had a Striped Hawk-moth in his moth trap that morning. So we headed over to see it, having to wait some time for the weather conditions to be just right. Needless to say, I'd never heard of it before, but as ever, I'm learning about all sorts of new species and I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to photograph this fairly large moth species. It was very impressive, especially when we were able to see the flash of pink on the hindwings. I do like to experiment with my photography, and not just take the standard back-of-wing shot, and so got down low to take a photo from the side, so I could see its eye peering at me.

Our original plan for our trip up to Yorkshire, was to drive direct to Buckton, with rest breaks along the way. It wasn't until we were actually driving north on the A23 that Bob suddenly wondered about the possibility of detouring to Glapthorn Cow Pastures. It's a site in Northamptonshire that is known to be good for Black Hairstreaks - a rare butterfly species in the UK. As I was navigating, I had a quick look on my phone and saw that it would only add about 40 minutes to our journey. Since I'd never seen this butterfly species in its natural woodland habitat - the local colony in East Sussex is of questionable origin, and has most likely been introduced - I was eager to visit this new site. I like being spontaneous and I think Bob was surprised I agreed. In the end, it was the perfect place for us to stop for lunch and enjoy some time in a beautiful quiet woodland. Of the few people there, most were about to leave when we arrived. Bizarrely, I recognised one of them too from back home! It was quite easy to find the ride where the majority of Black Hairstreaks were nectaring. Since it wasn't sunny to begin with, it wasn't too tricky taking some photos as they weren't too flighty. I couldn't believe how many I was seeing. There were several flying around in one small area, and as we ambled up the ride we saw many more - about 30 in total. I saw more in that hour than I had in total prior to that occasion. For the majority of time it was just the two of us in this small stretch of the woodland. It was so peaceful. For the most part, only the sounds of the birds and bees could be heard. It was heavenly!

In the first part of this blog post - Swallowtails in Norfolk - I wrote about our first two days spent mostly at Strumpshaw Fen, where I successfully saw my first ever Swallowtail butterfly. Following this, we had two more days exploring the area. I still hoped I'd see more of this beautiful native species at some of the other reserves. DAY 3 The forecast for this day wasn't great, but at least dry. There wouldn't be much chance of any sunshine until the afternoon, when it would warm up a bit. So, we decided to head to Buxton Heath, on the other side of Norwich. Bob knew it was a good site for the Silver-studded Blue butterfly. It's a species we have in just two locations within Sussex - both of which we've been to. It's a species that thrives on heathland and can be found in good numbers in the right habitat if it's managed well - with grazing or periodic burning in patches. It turned out the forecast wasn't very accurate. When we arrived, it was already brightening up and our chance of finding roosting butterflies disappeared very quickly. However, it was lovely exploring somewhere new and aside from one other couple and a man working there, we didn't see anyone else for the three hours we were there. We left the car park and headed towards the northern corner of the heath first and in next to no time, Bob spotted one flying. I stopped and looked down and saw there was another right beside me. I used my bins to take a closer look and suddenly noticed there were ants crawling around it. Instantly, I knew this was something special. The butterfly had only just emerged. I quickly took some photos but was having real issues with my camera. I was so disappointed not to get any good photos. The butterfly is out of focus but the ant is sharp!!! Hmmm! Not what I was going for! This close relationship with ants occurs with a few of the blue species of butterfly, such as the Large Blue, Adonis Blue and Chalkhill Blue. It's the first time I've ever seen the ants in attendance of a new emerged butterfly, so I was thrilled at least to have seen it.

When Bob and I returned from Kent, having just seen the Heath Fritillary , we looked at the weather for the following week and we saw that it was looking very changeable every day, with cool windy and/or wet weather forecast. The Swallowtail butterfly ( Papilio machaon ) is our largest native species found in the UK and Bob informed me they won't be flying if the conditions aren't good. They like the warmth! Now was not a good time for our hot spell to be over! With only one more week of my break from teaching left, we had little choice but to arrange our visit for then, regardless of the weather. I booked some accommodation for us and we figured that if we went for more than a couple of days, we were bound to have at least one fairly decent opportunity to see the final species on my UK list that I'd not seen before. DAY 1 As usual for us, we set off fairly early in the morning since we had over a three-hour drive ahead of us. The plan was to stop at Weeting Heath Nature Reserve, just inside the Norfolk border, so we could break up the drive and enjoy some time out in nature. The main purpose was to see the Stone Curlew that breed at this site ( Burhinus oedicnemus ). They're a rare summer visitor to the UK and I'd not heard of this species before. They're not in any way related to the Curlew ( Numenius arquata ), which I have seen before - though they are also quite rare and endangered. Their name relates to their similar call. We sat in two different hides during the course of the late morning and early afternoon and for quite some time we didn't think we were going to get lucky and see the Stone Curlew - though we did see a couple of Curlews. At one point I nipped back to the car, and of course that was when Bob saw one! It was on the far side of the field we were overlooking, but where the ground dipped lower out of sight. He saw it just as I was returning to the hide. So, I quickly sat down and looked for it, but I didn't get a chance to properly see it. We decided to stay a bit longer, and so this time Bob left the hide to fetch our lunch, and that was when the Stone Curlew reappeared. It even flew a short distance, quite low, as it apparently had a nest nearby and it wasn't happy about the Rooks that were too close for comfort.  Don't hold your breath - the photo is pants! The bird was so far away and it was more of a record shot. However, I did enjoy watching it through my binoculars.

When Bob and I returned from our Isle of Wight trip to see the Glanville Fritillary for the first time, I was eager for the next challenge - seeing the Heath Fritillary butterfly in Kent. However, the weather wasn't quite ideal and I had to sit tight for another week before there was a good opportunity for us to head over for the day. Thankfully, it was a Friday, which meant there would be fewer people around, which we both prefer as it's more peaceful. It was still very early in the flight season with only a few sightings having been posted on social media, and this meant we might have a good chance of seeing some fresh butterflies, which is always lovely when they look pristine and fresh. Thankfully, we both don't mind the early starts when there is a good reason for it and it wasn't too ridiculously early on this occasion! It took us just over two hours to reach East Blean Woods car park, after a few detours and delays. We arrived just after 9am and only a few other vehicles were parked there. It was still slightly cool and cloudy, which meant the butterflies wouldn't be too active yet. This was ideal for us, so we could take plenty of photos. When we began the walk, I felt fairly oprtimistic we'd see some during the day, but I was prepared that we might need to look at various different sites in the area. I didn't expect that within 5 minutes of leaving the car park and having only walked 50 metres, I would spot the first one of the day, roosting on a bracken fern in the cool shade of the woods. It was a lovely fresh specimen and a wonderful start to the day. Within moments of me spotting this one, Bob saw another one roosting nearby. Fabulous!