Brown

I finally caught up with a Brown Hawker at rest today. It's easy enough to identify them as they patrol the meadows but not so straightforward to approach them at rest. It's a very busy background, so I'm not really showing off this fine dragonfly at its best, but it will do as a record shot for the year until something else comes along.

Having taken this week off I'm now beset by anxiety as to how to make the most of it. Taking two related work phone calls about arrangements for returning to office-based working in August didn't exactly help me to wind down. Earlier in lockdown I established a reasonable daily routine, but that's when I was limited to a walk a day of around an hour. Now I can spend all day out if I want to, but I've only got my feet to take me places.

In the end I popped out along the Bank this morning. Unfortunately the sun didn't really break through, but I did get a first fleeting glimpse for the year of a Purple Hairstreak at their usual tree and heard a Green Woodpecker laughing away.

In the afternoon it was brighter so I thought I'd tour some of the elm trees to see if I could find a White Hairstreak.  No luck today, but there were Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Red Admiral, Gatekeeper, Large, Small and Green-veined White and Small Skipper about which I guess makes eleven species for the day which isn't too shabby.

And then home i time to watch Everton actually put in a semi-respectable performance in defeating Sheffield United. It's now down to the last game of the season on Sunday to see whether it's us or Southampton who secure 11th place to finish best of the worst.

Butterfly Journal 2020
22. 20/07/2020  Purple Hairstreak, Baildon Bank