Clouded Yellow

Bit of a disappointing day today. The weather didn't look promising but we thought we would try a few of the local sites looking for Dragonflies and Butterflies. First stop was Black Pool at Pulborough Brooks. Not a good place to start as it had all but dried out and there were no signs of life around it. All the water levels across the Pulborough site seemed low and we only saw two dragonflies all morning, a Brown Hawker and a Southern Hawker. Neither stayed around to have their pictures taken.

Pulborough also seemed to be almost devoid of birds. I did have a look from Netley's and could see a couple of very distant Sandpipers. I would like to have got a confirmed sighting of the Wood Sandpiper but to me they looked like two Commons and one Green.

Picture taking was confined to one brief spell of sunshine in the meadow area above Netley's. We were hoping for a Brown Hairstreak but could not see any movement in the trees or bushes.

The first Clouded Yellow of the year got us off to a good start, even if it was a little on the tatty side.

After that it was really just the everyday butterflies. But at least it was something flying and the chance to take a few shots.

Gatekeepers were probably the most common butterfly.

Gatekeeper

and there were still a few fresh looking Small Heaths about

Small Heath

Ringlets and Meadow Browns had mostly gone over but there was a nice Small Copper, a few Green-veined Whites and a couple of Common Blues around.

Small Copper

Small Copper

Green-veined White

Common Blue

There were hundreds of the Common Grass Moth around so I thought I would take a shot of one for the record.

Common Grass Moth Agriphila straminella

and the always fascinating Scorpion Fly

Scorpion Fly

We had about an hour of sunshine before the clouds came over, then time to walk back to the car before the rain started. Despite what the forecasts had promised there seemed little chance of it clearing as we went into the afternoon so in the end we packed up and headed for home.