Common Emerald

While Chris headed off to Northamptonshire to do a survey of a riverside meadow, Pete and I decided to test out our post-Covid strength by doing some gentle fieldwork at Castor Hanglands NNR, just down the road.

The weather was perfect and the site was perfect with the wildflowers really coming to their peak,  a myriad of butterflies including Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns, Ringlets and a fresh hatch of Small Tortoiseshells, as well as the first Common Emerald damselflies I've seen this year.

We aren't yet perfect, and although I only recorded nine quadrats, I felt quite exhausted at the end of it. Nevertheless, we made progress and don't seem to have caused any relapses!