Saturday 9 July 2011

Wenlock Edge - Silver Wash!

A return from Berlin and (other than multiple Little Egrets) all was quiet on the Shropshire birding front! The insect crusade continued with Rob Stokes and a quest for Silver Washed Fritillary on Wenlock edge. Open glades in the densely wooded areas gave the best hope for success and it wasn’t long before we were into two or three! Despite being the most common Fritillary nationally, a real difficult one locally and this was a Shropshire tick for me.

They are really powerful fliers and tend only to fly whilst the sun is shining so there were long waits between passing clouds! I only had one brief photo opportunity and took it as a smart male landed nearby (and didn't stop long!)








A return visit later got a female (slightly smaller and with browner colouration)








Plus a brief chance of recording the underwing whilst feeding.






My first Comma image of the year here too....






The Comma's comma!








Large Skipper a busily supping nectar






By far the most abunfant species was Ringlet – they seem to be having a ‘plentiful’ year!






The middle of the day was to spent searching for something very scarce on Titterstone Clee......