Huddsbirder

Another sunny day and another visit down to the ponds for hopefully some Dragonfly action. On arrival there was a Common Buzzard overhead, and I was also buzzed by a couple of Male Southern Hawker Dragonflies. I got to the pond I wanted to be at and watched for ten minutes to see where the dragonfly action was, the other side., I slowly made my way around but something caught my eye in the reeds, Common Darter, I started taking a few photos and on closer inspection I realised it was a male Ruddy Darter, having not found one in the Huddersfield area before, I was a bit happy to have found it. Other dragons about were a few Brown Hawkers with females egg laying within the pond and I also found a single Common Darter. Damselflies about were Emerald and Blue tailed Damselflies.

Did observe a few butterflies, a few Gatekeepers, a Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown and Green veined White.

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Another reserve I haven’t been to in a while mainly due to the same reason as my local ponds, the area has become neglected and is therefore becoming overgrown, with brambles and saplings.

After a good walk around I ended up with four species of butterfly, one very pristine Painted Lady along with Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Green veined and Small Whites, no Common Blues here either.

I faired better with the hoverflies and walked away with Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Episyrphus balteatus, Eristalis arbustorum, Eristalis pertinax, Melangyna umbellatarum, Myathropa florea and Syrphus ribesii

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A very brief visit down to the local ponds produced very little, with no Damselfly or Dragonfly activity. However its always good to check and I eventually did find a first for the ponds in the form of a single Purple Hairstreak Butterfly, so when I nearly gave up something turned up.

A few hours on my hands so decided on a quick visit to Cromwell Bottom NR near Brighouse, in the vein hope of a few local Dragonflies, none were seen. The bird feeding station held a few young and Adult Robins along with Great Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Dunnock and Magpie.

Butterfly highlights were Comma, Gatekeeper (which seem to having a great year), Green veined White, Large Skippers and Speckled Wood today

Here’s a few photos, click on to en-large

A place I haven’t frequented a lot this year mainly due I think to the habit lose and the lack of large Dragonflies., however I decided on another look. I picked up on a few Butterflies Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Ringlets, no matter how hard I looked nothing else could be found.

Dragonflies, I was grazed by a single Emperor, I was hoping for at least Four Spotted Chasers and maybe a Broad Bodied Chaser thrown it, but sadly bit wasn’t to be.

Damselflies were a bit better with four species found a single Emerald being the first of the year, that along with Azure, Blue-tailed, and Common Blue were the only species found.

Other highlights today were Six Spot Burnet Moth, Shaded Broad Bar Moth, Cheilosia illustrata Hoverfly, and Chrysotoxum festivum Hoverfly,

Out to Kiplingcotes first to see Marbled White, but arriving in rainy conditions didn’t have me hoping for the best. I had a look at the weather forecast and it was due to pass at about 10am, I was now glad I’d brought a book to read. 9am and the weather was clearing, grapped my stuff and off I went.

First highlight was a Six Spot Burnet Moth followed shortly after by a fly over Hobby. On the reserve to the left side going thru the gate there was a number of Green veined White Butterflies, along with Large Skippers, Small Whites and numerous Gatekeepers, only found a few Marbled White Butterfly. Decided on trying the higher slopes, up onto the banking, this is where I found numerous Marbled White Butterflies, along with Small Tortoiseshells, Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Small Skippers. Birds up here were Whitethroat, Buzzard, Mistle Thrush and Yellowhammer

Since I was near to North Cave I did a quick visit to see the Dragonflies, only picking up three species Ruddy Darter (New for the Year), Blue tailed Damselfly and Common Damselfly. Butterflies were Gatekeeper, Green veined White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Skipper, and Speckled Wood.

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Another trip out to Bempton Cliffs, hoping that it would be third time lucky in seeing the Black browed Albatross, but as the day went on it was evident it was going to another no show.

The Albatross wasn’t the only celebrity this weekend, we’d also come to see the Red tailed (Turkistan) Shrike, which gave itself up far easier than the Albatross. Also with the shrike was a pair of Nuthatch, which apparently are also a rare bird here at Bempton.

On the Cliffs were the usual birds Gannets, Kittiwakes, Fulmar, Razorbill, Guillemot, Puffin, Guillemot. A couple of moths also a Common Footman along with Narrow Bordered five Spot Burnet Moth.

Looks like another trip out to see the Albatross then

Bird List :- Blackbird, Blackcap, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Fulmar, Gannet, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Kittiwake, Puffin, Razorbill, Reed Bunting, Red Tailed (Turkistan) Shrike, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon, Sedge Warbler

Sun was out a few hours to spare after work, I thought about Bullcliffe for a hour or so hadn’t been for a while. I was shocked in the lack of butterfly action here Ringlets and Meadow Brown were in good numbers but very little else, took me a while to find a couple of Small Skipper and a very tatty Painted Lady. I also eventually found a couple of Narrow bordered Five Spotted Burnet Moths after nearly giving up

Out onto the moors around Langsett tonight looking for Nightjar, come 9pm and a couple of male birds started ‘churring’ was long after that we managed to get good flight views of 2 male birds and a female bird for the evening. Over birds seen on the evening were Stonechat, Woodcock and Long eared Owl, birds heard were Red Grouse, Tawny Owl

An after work visit to Old Moor mainly and hopefully to see Broad Bodied Chaser, nice warm day and the news that the Dragonflies were flying well today on arrival, I had my fingers crossed.

News of Red-eyed Damselfly on the large pond had me heading over there first and was easy to pick up on one of the nearest lily pads, also getting some decent images, also on this pond were Azure Damselfly, Four Spotted Chaser and Emperor Dragonfly.

Around on the other ponds were more Four Spotted Chasers, along with a few Azure and Common Blue Damselfly, also nice to see a Brimstone and a Common Blue Butterflies, alas not the hoped for Broad Bodied Chaser this visit