Always go back! After my last session at Whixall Moss, I had been missing female and a nice mature male White-faced Darter. It was a perfect day with quite a few on the wing...
Here's an immature female recognisable from the thicker parallel abdomen and with the opaque wings...
A teneral / immature male
An near mature male next with the red markings still showing a hint of yellow below the thorax...
There was much more to enjoy as well, covered in another post!
Keeping the Clubtails company, there were dozens of Banded Demoiselles freshly emerged too. It would be a tough decision to find a more colourful Damsel?
Here's the 'unbanded' female...
It's been nine years since I turned my attention to Common Clubtails and a chance visit to Shrewsbury Quarry proved to be my most successful mission yet with at least 10 seen!
Some were simple flyovers or disturbed and quickly gone but there were some pics to be had as they don't seem fussy regarding their perches! Any vegetation flowers of Dandelion in seed will do!
This very obliging female bears witness to that statement...
Dozens of passers by completely oblivious to these amazing moments...
I had planned to spend most of the day on the Moss but roughly 40 mins into the session, a rather nasty thunderstorm scuppered that - I was soaked to the skin! Never mind, at least I didn't get struck by lightning and I did at least see my main target (at the third visit). A super fresh teneral male White-faced Darter!
Highlight for me today was the impressive appearance of Small Coppers! They were not particularly confiding but one or two posed nicely and with the sun shining the coppery sheen on some was amazing!
No prizes for guessing which my butterfly of the day was!
A second visit of the year to Llanymynech rocks and after a slow start, the Skippers kept a coming..
Grizzled Skippers with some beginning to display wear and tear.
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