On arrival with Dave not in sight yet,i had a quick look on the Black Currant bushes in the car park and quickly found my first ever Currant Clearwings.
This diminutive little family of moths,which always look like make up brushes to me,are a real joy to see and this one was no exception,albeit not as colourful as some of the other family members,they are still nice to see and an added bonus on today's visit.
Dave then turned up and we decided to check out the Butterfly garden before heading off.The first of 2 Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoths for the day gave stunning views as it acrobatically fed at the Red Valarian on the edge of the path.
A little further and i spotted a Black Hairstreak nectaring on a Privet bush in the middle of the garden,one of the target species we had come to see.It gave close views,but was a buggar to get the correct angle on for a photo and then it was gone.
Other species observed in the garden included several Painted Lady,a Grass Snake and a brief female Broad-bodied Chaser.
We eventually headed off in the direction of 5 ways and around the Minting Triangle seeing at least another 4 Black Hairstreak and 3 lovely White Admiral with a second BBBHM near the bench at 5 ways,with a good mix of commoner species also seen but none in any big numbers.
A male Emperor Dragonfly provided some interest away from the butterflies and a lovely Peppered Moth and Rosy Footman were seen also.
A final visit to the butterfly garden before heading to Southrey Wood,saw us bumping into Matt Latham,it had been ages since we had seen each other and we all headed off to Southrey.
A short time later and we were parked up at Southrey Wood and off we went chatting and catching up.To be honest it was just too hot here,even for the butterflies and we only managed to see 3 White Admiral and a few Painted Ladies,but another female Broad-bodied Chaser and a Black-tailed Skimmer were logged in the note book.
When we arrived back at our cars,my car temp. said 38 degrees,bloody hell!,that's just too warm.
We all said our good byes and then headed home after a pretty decent day out and nice to do something different for a change.
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| Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth |
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| Black Hairstreak In The Butterfly Garden. |
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| Currant Clearwing. |
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| Currant Clearwing. |
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| Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth,Five Ways. |
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| Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth,Five Ways. |
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