His Imperial Majesty

Heavily cropped photo of the single Purple Emperor (Apatura iris) observed at Havant Thicket this morning.

Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus) were also seen, White Admiral (Limenitis camilla) was notable by its absence on the day.

Dragonflies - Silver Lake, Dorset

We made two visits to this site over the weekend to look for dragonflies. Friday's visit was less successful because it became overcast and cooler such that the dragonfly activity was meagre. We observed the briefest fly-by of a male Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea) but failed to relocate it.

an overcast Silver Lake on Friday

Beewolf (Philanthus triangulum)

Pyramidal Orchid
(Anacamptis pyramidalis)

Grass Vetchling
(Lathyrus nissolia)

teneral fem. Black-tailed Skimmer 
(Orthetrum cancellatum)

Our visit today in full sunshine, yielded much better results with both Broad Scarlet and Lesser Emperor (Anax parthenope) showing well.

Broad Scarlet

Lesser Emperor

Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperitor)
fem. ovipositing

Four-spotted Chaser
(Libellula quadrimaculata)

Black-tailed Skimmer

Hartland Moor - National Nature Reserve

This morning's visit enabled us to make contact with all our target species, including Heath Bee-fly (Bombilius minor) which was way too mobile to be photographed. Several were Lifers for A and I.

Mottled Bee-fly
(Thyridanthrax fenestratus)

Bee Wolf 
(Philanthus triangulum)

Silver-studded Blue
(Plebejus argus)

Large Sharp-tailed Bee
(Coelioxys Cf conoidea)

Green Eyed Flower Bee
(Anthophora bimaculata)

Chrysops sepulcralis

Emperor Moth
(Saturnia pavonia)

Keeled Skimmer
(Orthetrum coerulescens)

Purbeck Mason Wasp
(Pseudepipona herrichii)

Keeled Skimmer

Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis)
excavation