A painful weekend

Dull grey and cold Saturday so I left Doug to do the moths and take the pictures. The best of the nights trapping at Tophill Low included Pale-shouldered Brocade, Dusky Brocade, Shoulder-striped Wainscot and a Ghost Moth below.



Double Dart is something which isn't regularly caught at Tophill. This rather battered individual hopefully not the only one trapped this year.



Micro moths are always difficult to photograph well in the field. Doug managed this picture of this posing Grapholita compositella, I think the second time he has recorded this.



Similar in appearance and size, and demonstrating the difficulty of getting micros to pose in the field, is this Grapholita lunulana photographed at Langton in North Yorkshire recently.



On the bird front, 2 Green Sandpipers at Watton NR were typical in date for returning birds. Other than that relatively quiet. This Red-crested Pochard is hardly inspiring!



A little brighter was this Little Grebe image captured by Doug fishing in front of one the hides.



With the poor weather it was hardly surprising the dragonfly count was low. The best being 2 Red-eyed Damselfly, small numbers of Azure, Common Blue, and Blue-tailed Damselfly and the first 3 Emerald Damselfly to be encountered this year.



The best of the rest Doug managed was a Banded Demoiselle at Ryton, North Yorkshire on Sunday.