Butterfly Bonanza....

But first....Steve Graham and myself entered the world of twitchers at Conder Green where we went on the circuit and relocated the Temminck's Stint in the creeks below River Winds. A smart little adult stint still wearing some brown, buff and grey mottled breeding plumage.

Med Gulls Conder Pool 1 August. Silent Video

Some other casual records included, at least 8 Mediterranean Gull on Conder Pool, also uncounted Avocet including 4 young seen in the creeks, 12 Greenshank was a good count, as was 11 Little Grebe , both seen as current peak counts. It was also good to see 2 Common Tern juvenile with uncounted adults, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Common Sandpiper, and up to 40 House Martin seen lingering around River Winds.

Butterfly Bonanza.

The butterfly bonanza soon took off when we came to the canal towpath at The Mill at Conder Green to walk the section of the canal to Galgate. The results from the walk, was to log an impressive 51 Gatekeeper, followed at the top of the list by 40 Meadow Brown. Runners up consisted of 13 Green-veined White, the 7 Red Admiral and 5 Painted Lady seen, were all noted to be very fresh. Also 5 Small Tortoiseshell, 4 Small White, 3 Holly Blue, and 2 Peacock.

Large Skipper. Pete Woodruff.

I didn't ask Steve for comments, but personally thought just one Large Skipper, a Large White and Speckled Wood, came as surprising and disappointing low numbers, and included no Ringlet or Small Skipper seen.

Odonata sightings came in fine style, when we stepped on to the towpath at the lock by The Mill we found our first five of 13 Banded Demoiselle at four locations, they were seen as 9 male and 4 female. An excellent count of 13 Emperor Dragonfly and 10 Brown Hawker.

Shaded Broad-bar. Pete Woodruff.

Moths seen, 3 Shaded Broad-bar and 6 Silver Y, also up to 40 Red-tailed Bumblebee were seen along the way. A Buzzard and 2 Raven were all seen a little distance to the north, and a Kingfisher seen briefly as it rounded the corner and lost to view on the canal at Galgate.

Thanks to Ian once again, for the excellent header shot of the equally excellent Small Copper, as one of the species not seen at Mondays Butterfly Bonanza.

Postscript.

Gatekeeper on Regale Lily. Pete Woodruff.

After finding 51 Gatekeeper on Monday, our first one ever in the garden paid a visit this afternoon.