BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Matt Prince" data-source="post: 1828903" data-attributes="member: 52862">Saturday 15th May 2010A slow start after bagging the pratincole in Lincs the day before...With a narrow window of weather expected we headed for a couple of dragonfly and butterfly spots, starting with Little Bradley for Downy Emerald. It was sunny, blustery and not particularly warm, and I was lucky to spot a newly emerged downy emerald half way up vegetation a couple of metres out from the edge of the pond. A few more insects and some interesting flora here. A visit to nearby Chudliegh Knighton ponds produced some more flora and I managed to pot (briefly) a personal favourite mini beast - the frantic and fierce -  Green Tiger Beetle. Returning past the old A38 bee orchid site, we found a few Greater Butterfly Orchids had survived, but only a few, numbers down drastically on the swathes that we've seen here in previous years, I'd like to punch the idiot that sprayed weedkiller along here...A brief visit to Haldon yielded plenty of Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, but neither Small Pearl, nor either of the hoped for skippers, and I couldn't find Tree pipit either! A check of Windy X, again, more pearl bordered but no skippers, though we did find speckled yellow moth, a stunning black and red froghopper and bitter vetch. Exminster was wind swept and the only odonata found was azure damselfly (also seen at Little Bradley), no sign of the hoped for hairy dragons, and I had to settle for water dock instead.The evening was spent at the national moths do down at Saltram House near Plymouth, this was also billed as a bat meet, sadly the brown long eared's didn't put in an appearance, instead several lesser horseshoes were observed flying out of one of the building blocks. The turnout of people was well in excess of the turn out of moths on this cold night, but still, some interesting species were attracted to the traps, including a few extra mini beasts - such as scorpion fly and may bug. A tawny owl called briefly. Some bueatiful moths amongst the small haul included an immaculate waved umber, a freshly emerged broken barred carpet and a stunning grey prominent.Sites: Haldon, Little Bradley, Chudliegh Knighton ponds, Windy Cross, Poly-Tunnels, Exminster, Saltram HouseNew Species : Tawny Owl (Heard), Azure Damselfly, Downy Emerald, may-bug (cockchafer), Green Tiger Beetle, Coreus Marginatus (Shield Bug), Cercopis Vulnerata (Froghopper),  Neriene peltata (spider), meta mengei (spider*), Panorpa sp. (Scorpion Fly), Common Wasp Greater Spearwort (lvs), Lesser Spearwort, Great Tussock Sedge,  Common Spot Orchid (lvs), Southerm Marsh Orchid (lvs), Wood Forget-me-not,  Southern Wood Rush, Compact Rush, Flag Iris (lvs), Birds-foot trefoil, Brooklime,  Wavy Bittercress, Heath Wood-Rush, Oxe-eye Daisy, Greater Butterfly Orchid (lvs), Changing Forget-me-not, bitter vetch, Bulbous Buttercup, Water DockSpeckled Yellow, Brimstone (moth), Square Spot, Brindled Pug, Clouded Bordered Brindle (dark form), Nut-tree Tussock, Waved Umber, Water Carpet, Broken Barred Carpet, Least Black Arches, Oak Tree Pug, Garden Carpet, Scorched Carpet, Lunar Marbled Brown, Grey Prominent, Dark Sword Grass, Common Quaker.Totals: Birds 168, Dragons 3, Moths 23, Spiders 13, Flora 186, Misc 37GT 556Nicola's grips RL PartridgesUnidentified Stress level - high, though hopeful. *Dispute about this identification <a href="http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=171239" target="_blank">here</a></blockquote>

Verification