Sunday 17 June 2018

An afternoon at Ketton Quarry, Rutland - June 14, 2018


There was a report of two Black Hairstreaks at Ketton yesterday and David and I had discussed going over providing the strong westerly winds due to a storm over the northern parts of the UK died down and I got back from the dentist.  When I got back from the dentist the winds had subsided although it was still quite breezy, but we decided to give it a go.

We arrived on site and found Dave Needham who had been looking but hadn’t seen them, but he had seen a reasonable selection of butterflies that included both Dark Green Fritillary and Marbled White.  We went down with Dave into the Barbecue area and found Andy who had also seen a Marbled White but not the hairstreak.  Andy drifted off but the three of us stayed and during the sunny periods there were a few butterflies, that included Large Skipper and Brimstone, and several Burnet Companions.  We then had a more prolonged period of sun but there didn’t really seem to be an increase in butterflies, when David suddenly said I got one.  He managed to get both Dave and I onto the butterfly and we all agreed that it was one of the Black Hairstreaks and it stayed long enough for us to get a photograph.


Black Hairstreak

We hung around for a while but with no sign of it we went for a walk along the footpath to the west.  We had a couple of Dark Green Fritillaries and a Grizzled Skipper but saw little else and finally called it a day.


Dark Green Fritillary


Dark Green Fritillary


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