Hardwick Hall - 12th July 2025

 It's been in the high 20s, low 30s this week, so Jayne and I made an early(ish) start for our walk around Hardwick Park and Hall. We walked around the ponds, and then up through the park to the hall and gardens.

Walking around the ponds, we soon spotted the first damsels and dragons of the day, with Common Blue and Red-eyed Damselflies seen. Several Emperors were also seen (minimum of 3) and a couple of Black-tailed Skimmers. 

Black-tailed Skimmer

Butterflies were numerous (which was a nice change!) with Gatekeepers being the most numerous (30+), along with Small Copper (1), Meadow Brown (20+), Large Whites, Small Whites and Red Admiral.

There were also lots of hoverflies, including a single Volucella inanis. A single Hummingbird Hawkmoth was also seen in the gardens.

Volucella inanis

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Linacre Butterflies - 18 species!!!

The weather forecast for this morning was dry and sunny (!!!), so I spent 5 hours (8.30am - 1.30pm) on site to see what I could see. As the title of today's blog shows, it was a very well spent few hours. The total of 18 species must be my best ever, and included four brilliant species: White-letter Hairstreak, Purple Hairstreak, Silver-washed Fritillary and Dark Green Fritillary. In addition, I recorded 2 new species for the site, an Emperor dragonfly and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth!

White-letter Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

Silver-washed Fritillary (female)

Silver-washed Fritillary (male)

The list of species seen is: Peacock (2), Red Admiral (7), Meadow Brown (c.20), Gatekeeper (7), Ringlet (1 very tatty individual), Small Copper (1 on the dam wall of the top reservoir), Small Tortoiseshell (3), Large White (5), Green-veined White (2), Speckled Wood (1), Comma (6), Holly Blue (1), Common Blue (1 in the ringing site), White-letter Hairstreak (1, by the bridge on the top reservoir, at 10.30am), Purple Hairstreak (1, in oaks by the bottom reservoir, at 12.45pm), Silver-washed Fritillary (3; 1 male and 2 females), Dark Green Fritillary (1 in the ringing site) and Small Skipper (c.5, in the field beyond the top reservoir).

 3 species of day-flying moth were also seen: Shaded Broad Bar (2), 6-spot Burnet Moth (1) and Hummingbird Hawkmoth (1 in the ringing site - a site first). 

4 species of Dragon/Damselfly were present: Brown Hawker (1, including 1 ovipositing in the bottom reservoir), Emperor Dragonfly ( 1 on the middle reservoir, a first site record for me), Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Brown Hawker (female)

Hoverflies seen were: Marmalade, Volucella pellucens , Myathropa florae and Eristalis sp.

Two species of ladybird were seen: 7-spot and Harlequin.

I think there might have been some birds around too (!), but I didn't do a full count. Instead here are a few of the "best": Swallow (6), House Martin (2), Canada Goose (2 on the top reservoir), Buzzard (2 adults), Stock Dove (1 by the muck heap by the main entrance), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult), Willow Warbler (1 very yellow juvenile bird by the top reservoir) and Chiffchaff (1 singing and lots of "wheeting").

Trengwainton Gardens - Penzance

On 22nd July Jayne and I visited a National Trust property called Trengwainton Garden near Penzance. We enjoyed a lovely walk around the grounds, and recorded some great butterflies and dragonflies.

The first insect we saw was Beautiful Demoiselle, with a minimum of 4 males seen on the stream by the main path.

Beautiful Demoiselle

Also present on the same stretch of stream were 1 Large Red Damselfly and two Golden-ringed Dragonflies.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Walking up to The Terrace, the sun came out and so did the butterflies. A minimum of 6 Red Admirals were feeding on the Verbena, along with Small Tortoiseshell (2), Gatekeeper, Painted Lady (1), Comma (2), Large White and a single Common Darter dragonfly.

The final insect of note was a Hummingbird Hawk Moth that Jayne found feeding in the walled garden.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Mallorcan Insects 2018

Whilst in Mallorca Jayne and I looked at, and recorded some of the insect life to be found there. We didn't see many species, but we did get a few new species.

The first new species was the dragonfly Keeled Skimmer. Several were seen on the River Sant Jordi just outside Puerta Pollenca, as well as in Albufera and at the Lluc Monastery. Another new species, the Small Red Damselfly, was also seen at the Lluc Monastery, in the Botanical garden. Other species seen included Blue-tailed Damselfly, Black-tailed Skimmer, Emperor and a large Hawker species that may have been Southern Migrant Hawker though that was not confirmed.

Keeled Skimmer (male)

Small Red Damselfly

Two species seen at Son Real were also new. Both were butterflies. The first, Two-tailed Pasha, was enormous, and the most impressively beautiful butterfly I have ever seen. I managed to get this shot of the underwing.

Two-tailed Pasha

The second species seen at Son Real was Geranium Bronze. This attractive species was seen, unsurprisingly, on a geranium! Apparently it's an introduced species from South Africa.

Geranium Bronze

The last three "lifers" were a Striped Grayling and Cleopatra (butterflies) seen at Cuber Reservoir and Passenger ( a moth found in the hotel).

Striped Grayling

Passenger

Other species seen were: Common Blue Butterfly, Small Copper, Clouded Yellow, Hummingbird Hawk-moth and Small Heath.

Garden Moths- Hawk-moths are comimg!

Its been quite a while since I last blogged about  my moth trapping activities in my garden (click on the label Garden Moths for details of previous blogs).

Throughout June I put the trap out 6 times, and began to catch a much wider range of species. I won't list all the names, but instead here are a few photos of one particular family - the hawk moths.

The first moth to show is a Hummingbird Hawk-moth (link here). This species is a regular, but uncommon, annual immigrant to the UK, from southern Europe, and this was my first record in the garden. They aren't easy to photograph, but I managed to grab this shot.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

 

Another hawkmoth that appeared in the garden was the Poplar Hawkmoth (link here). I've had 2 so far this year, including this one that posed beautifully for some shots.

 

Poplar Hawk-moth

 

The third species of hawk-moth seen so far is the Lime Hawk-moth (link here). Just 1 record of this species so far, but a real beauty.

 

Lime Hawk-moth

 

The final species recorded so far is one that may people may have heard of, or perhaps, even seen- the Elephant Hawk-moth ( link here). This species first turned up at the weekend (along with a Poplar Hawk-moth), and I'm hoping to see a few more over the next couple of months.

Elephant Hawk-moth