The Bog - Emerald Damselflies

Emerald Damselflies must be one of the most beautiful of our Damselflies. The iridescent metallic sheen gives them an edge on just about all the others!

Here's the male, noticeably thin abdomen with powdery blue coloration on the side of the thorax, pronotum and some of the segments. 

The female has a distinctly thicker abdomen, greenish above with beige underparts.

And you can clearly tell for these two, it was love at firstsight!

The Bog - Mottled Grasshopper

Whilst Grayling were the target species, I kept my ears and eyes to the ground in the hope of nailing my final 'easy'  Grasshopper for Shropshire. The habitat here is ideal in the sunny dry spots and it wasn't long before, I could see obviously 'clubbed' antennae in the viewfinder! Keeping them still and in a reasonably open position for a picture was another matter!!

My first one had clearly suffered an injury to the tip of the left antenna! Clear mottling, long wings and red colouration to the abdomen looking good for a male Mottled Grasshopper. The search was on for a better one however...

After a bit of a search, finally found one showing clearly clubbed antennae although there was far less mottling in general. The strongly inflexed pronotum looks good though!

Fascinating creatures, wonder which one will hop into my life next?

The Bog - Grayling

Another habitat, another butterfly and a Shropshire speciality in the form of Grayling, formerly in decline in inland areas. There were at least 12 flying about, always easy to find (after nearly being stood on!)

I've done the underwing on a stone image many times before! Something else was needed?

Brambles to the rescue...

Which way is up?

Two feeding on the same patch!

There was a lot more insect action going on there too!

Venus Pool - female Long-winged Conehead

Another day, another Conehead and I haven't even been searching for them, they just seem to turn up!! The was another nymph Long-winged Conehead but this time a female brandishing an amazing ovipositor! Found along the path adjacent to the sand quarry...

This was to be the briefest of encounters as she hopped into the dense vegetation next to the fence and was lost to view!

Venus Pool - Long-winged Conehead No2

Yet another male nymph Long-winged Conehead, this time off the path in the arable field, near to the Oak tree. This photo, first of three demonstrates just how long the antennae are!

A couple of dorsal views...

Followed by a long hop and change of scenery!

The final perch, before I lost him, by far the most photogenic...

Good things come in threes, where;s the next one?

Venus Pool - Roesel's Bush Cricket

Roesel's Bush Cricket has escaped the South East during recent years, spreading steadily northwards and despite being a relative newcomer to Venus Pool, safe to say it has settled down! With a reeling continuous Savi's like churr, once you get attuned to this, it really is all over the reserve. I'm grateful to Dave Chapman for getting my ears tuned in... Here's a taste of some encounters during the past week of insect spotting...

You need a lot of space to fit in stretched legs and those long antennae...

And despite having a mainly brown and grey colour scheme, its quite a colourful character!

Not afraid to pose obligingly for the camera in the Chicory!

My favourite moment of the week, perfect light and tucking those antennae in the frame quite nicely!

Whilst I'm still hooked on Odonata, there's many more interesting insects on show at this time of year and I'm filling my boots...

Titterstone Clee - Dark Green Fritillary

With Marbled White finally on the Shropshire list, a drive up to Titterstone Clee summit paid dividends today. Dark Green Fritillary finally on the county list! I was primarily looking for insects and knew there was a chance of an encounter with these? A smart male to start off...

An then the somewhat 'washed out colours' of a female!

There's enough detail in the upperwing (no indented third spot on the forewing) to eliminate High Brown but eventually I got a closed wing flash from two perched on the same thistle!

Finally and this is quite early in their flight period, a cracked really fresh male!

Utter indulgence as reasonable views gave way to frame fillers!

What a week for Butterflies!