Banded

It was the turn of my river walk today - I walk straight down the hill to Buck Lane, then down to the river, along to the nature reserve and then back along the bank almost as far as Esholt before returning up the hill, under the viaduct, through Tong Park and home. 

The last couple of times I've been down it's been fairly dull and cool, but in today's sunny weather I was hopeful for a bit more dragonfly activity. I was rewarded with lots of Banded Demoiselle which are found at many places along the banks of the Aire. There were lots of Azure and a few Large Red damselflies too. Probably Common Blue as well, but I didn't get a photo of one of those.

Butterflies were thin on the ground, but I did see single Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange-tip and Small Heath and a couple of Small Skipper. A Clouded Border moth was a more unusual sighting.

Back in Tong Park I was scouring a spot where I have very occasionally seen Common Blue butterflies on patches of Common birds-foot-trefoil. In among the little yellow flowers I spotted some larger ones, which I took for Common rock-rose (extra) which I know to be a limestone loving plant. We're not a limestone area, but I remember reading that as Tong Park is a site of a terminal moraine of the Airedale glacier, there is some limestone in the soil and hence some unusual flora, stranded rather like an erratic boulder.  So assuming it is Common rock-rose, that was a nice find.