The jewels of July

I love July, as the woods of South Northants come alive! This year though the weather has had a real impact with June and the beginning of July horrendously wet.

Finally however, the last 10 days or so have seen a bit of long awaited summer, with temperatures in the 30s. In turn, I've finally been able to get out and find some things! I was really looking forward to trying to find some Purple Emperors locally again this year after a lean year last year. Thankfully, on Sunday 17/07, I had a free day with the weather fare. Off to Bucknell Wood I went!

I made my way to one of the best areas and I hadn't been walking too long before I caught sight of a Purple Emperor, as it flew away from me strongly along the path! I of course, zoomed off after it, getting a rather bemused look from a passing dog walker! I was in luck too, as reaching the path crossroads the emperor had come down onto a large dollop of horse dung. Result!
It stuck around for a little while before zooming off again, however over the next little while, it appeared several times, allowing some great views.

Later on in the day I also got onto a female flying around a lone oak for quite some time. It began to show some interest in something which, when looking through the bins, I realised was a mating pair of emperors too. Wowee! The intruding female tried muscling in on 'proceedings', however after a minute or so departed. All really exciting and cool to witness these two securing the 2017 generation of Bucknell emperors!

White-Letter Hairstreaks are pretty scarce in Bucknell and a tricky butterfly to see up close at the best of times, spending most of their time lurking in the treetops. During the last couple of weeks however, I've been lucky enough to have had several closer encounters with butterflies coming down to nectar on brambles in the evenings.

As usual, Silver-Washed Fritillaries are numerous, together with a few stunning Valezina forms drawing in quite a few admirers!

Aside from the butterflies, I've had some frequent and enjoyable encounters with Foxes, both cubs and adults, often at pretty close quarters.

Slow Worms are probably quite common in Bucknell Wood, however aren't easy to see. On the evening of the 14/07 however, I got lucky with a huge, docile one sat in  the middle of the path. A cautious approach allowed me to get up super close.

It's been encouraging to see several Spotted Flycatcher territories this year in Bucknell, with at least 4 seen but almost certainly more. Also on the morning of the 14/07, a vocal male Crossbill made a welcome appearance, my first in Bucknell for a good couple of years.