Southern

A very busy background, but it's rare that I successfully stalk a bigger dragonfly for a photo, so I'm happy with this portrait of a Southern Hawker from Baildon Bank this morning. I'd also seen a Common Darter a little earlier.

Mainly I was on a butterfly recording walk though, along the Bank and then dropping down to Baildon Green and back up the hill. A good circuit before lunch. As the threatened storms hadn't yet arrived I headed down to Tong Park and Spring Wood for a couple of hours in the afternoon too where the biggest surprise was turning up a Brown Argus, a first for my local patch. 

During the day I recorded, in rough descending order of quantity: Painted Lady, Peacock, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Small White, Small Skipper, Small Heath, Small Copper, Ringlet, Large White, Holly Blue, Green-veined White, Purple Hairstreak, Comma, Red Admiral and Brown Argus. Sixteen species although the White-letter Hairstreak continues to elude me this year.