The Suffolk Argus neared the car park and the pedestrian gate in the stock proof fence, half a dozen Dartmoor ponies were seen grazing along the ride.
and a stop was made at the Westwood bird hide. Here a Little Egret, a Mallard and Moorhens entertained us, but with cloud cover increasing we moved on. A Brown Hawker and several more Migrant Hawker dragonflies were counted. Ringlet, Purple Hairstreak, Grayling and a Small Copper, the caeruleopunctata form, were added to the list. Gorse Shield Bug, Sloe Bug and a longhorn beetle Rutpela maculata were found, and a superb example of the fungus Polyporus tuberaster growing on dead gorse was much photographed. Later, Common Blue and Comma were noted, but by then the weather was deteriorating and as we
Kerkini, Greece
We were grateful for having so many insects in addition to butterflies identified and discussed. It was good to see widely spread White Admirals, probably ten different individuals, but where were the Red Admirals? Only two were counted, and no Peacock or Small Tortoiseshell was observed. Perhaps a sunny late-August will bring them forth.
6th to the 13th June 2010
Highlights from David Tomlinson’s diary. (Part 1) This holiday was organised for members of the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation. Though the main target of the trip was to find butterflies, other aspects of the area’s rich natural history were not ignored. The weather during our week started thundery, but became hotter and more humid by the day, reaching around 90°F on our last two days. Participants were Rob and Alex Parker, Geoff and Pat Hayes, Richard and Marie Stewart, Peter Maddison and Sheila Keeley. Sunday 6 June There was a skylark singing as I left home at 3.20 in the morning, with the first hint of light in the eastern sky. By the time we reached Bury it was starting to get light, and the blackbirds were singing. Trevor, our chauffeur, arrived on time, and we had an easy run down to Gatwick, arriving two and half hours before our scheduled take off.
The flight was only 80% full and we arrived on schedule. In Thessalonica it was raining slightly and was rather warm and humid, but the first part of the minibus journey to Ano Poroia was dry, until we drove through a heavy storm (no thunder). The outside temperature plunged to 61°F, but was soon back in the high 70s. Traffic was heavy on the ring road, but soon eased off as we drove towards Serres. Apart from a few kestrels it wasn’t until we got to Kerkini that we started to see any birds, and our lakeside drive revealed the usual species – night, grey and squacco herons, little egret, great crested grebe, Dalmatian pelican, pygmy cormorant, etc. Our first butterfly stop was shortly before reaching the hotel: it produced several nettle-tree butterflies, comma, marbled fritillary, small and large skipper, small copper, clouded yellow, large and small white. There were also a number of crickets, and several of the strikingly
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