A visit to North Cliffe Wood in the warm sunshine. It was still and balmy on the south facing areas of the wood by the heath, so I mostly kept there. It was very quiet on the bird front, with little of note, but the insects more than compensated for it.
Dragonflies
I wasn't surprised by the abundant Common Darters, but I wasn't expecting a list of 5 Odonata on the wing. A very tattered male Southern Hawker was near the entrance of the heath, hunting, although it briefly landed on an oak.
Later, another male was actively searching for females on the pond, checking the shore, including the shaded areas.
A bit later, I found a male Migrant Hawker basking on a post.
There were a minimum of 4 male Black Darters (top shot and below), which I had never seen in this site. I end up having lunch by one of them. It keeps returning to the same log, which it shares with a common darter, and readjusting position each time it lands to catch the sun.
There are literally hundreds of Common Darters, individuals are basking on the path, on logs, on the trees, they are everywhere! I see 3 mating pairs and one ovipositing pair on the heathland pond.
I walk back and forth checking the posts, as it offers the maximum exposure for the the insects to the low sun. In the distance, I see a large damselfly, is it possible!? amazingly, it is a stunning female Willow Emerald! Possibly the first for the site and my first out of Hull in East Yorkshire. What are the chances? how many Willow Emeralds are flying over the county? It has a beautiful bronze sheen, particularly on the abdomen, presumably a fully mature female.
Of note two carrion beetles, a stunning Nicrophorus vespilloides, which flies onto the path. It is very warm and doesn't like to be exposed, and it tries to hide on the grass very quickly, so I need to pot it briefly to take its photo.
I wish I had potted the Black Snail Beetle, Silpha atrata, which runs fast across the path. It is a common beetle in the reserve, which I find puzzling as snails are hard to come by there.
Butterflies
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