Today in the warm sunshine I carried out a butterfly survey at Toad Holes Beck. The counts will be under recorded due to some areas not walked through due to tall thistles and grasses.
Nine species were recorded. Starting with the negatives…No Common blues or Small Whites were recorded, low numbers of Speckled Wood and only 1 Large White was observed. On the positive side I had a record count of Ringlets, a very good count of Large Skippers and a good count of Small Skipper.
A pair of Meadow Browns mating
Species and Counts: Small Skipper Total=23, Large Skipper Total=21, Ringlet Total=139, Meadow Brown Total=44, Speckled Wood Total=4, Comma Total=2, Red Admiral Total=1
Large White Total=1, Small Tortoiseshell Total=16.
An Emperor Dragonfly was feeding at the larger pond at the site.
