More orchids and Black Hairstreaks

On Saturday, Colin and I had intended to visit Woodwalton Fen for dragonflies and Glapthorn Cow Pasture for the Black Hairstreaks which were flying. This was based on the weather forecast of it being warm and bright with sunny spells. Having arrived to pick me up at eight, it needed a bit of a rethink since it was cool and cloudy with a bit of a cold northerly breeze-not quite what we expected.
We decided to have a walk around Paxton and see if conditions improved since it was on our way. We usually visit a bit earlier in year but expected to encounter most of the species anyway. Warblers featured, with several Willow warblers singing-seemingly a common bird as we encountered them at every site (unlike around here where I have only heard a couple all spring). Chiffchaffs were also vocal, as were Blackcaps, a couple of Garden Warblers and two Lesser Whitethroats. Nightingale numbers have been very low this year and we didn't hear any (though a Song Thrush was doing a very good impersonation at times) which was a pity, and the other really significant observation was the complete lack of Swifts and hirundines. The only birds feeding over the lakes were Common terns which seemed to be very successful on the rafts. A few Blue Tailed and Azure damselflies and a roosting Banded Demoiselle were also seen.

We headed north to Barnack Hills and Holes. Most of the Pasque flowers had gone over but at least three plants were still out on the cooler north facing slopes. Lots of Fragrant Orchids were out-another visitor that day suggested that at least two types were present. I'm presuming there are Marsh Fragrant in the damper hollows among the Common/Chalk Fragrants. However I didn't look too closely and my images are of Common. He also said that there weren't many Man Orchids this year, but compared to our previous visits they seemed to be very abundant with plants in areas we hadn't seen them before. There were a lot of other interesting plants including the rather rare Purple Bush Vetch. The first butterflies of the day were seen-two Meadow Browns

We then decided to try Glapthorn as it was starting to warm up a bit but I found another site in my books on the way-Collweston Quarry. This is like Barnack, an old quarry with a good chalk flora, but a lot damper. The key plant here seems to be Dyers Greenweed which was everywhere and there were a lot of Knapweed Broomrape spikes as well. Its supposed to have a lot of orchids but we couldn't find any. The only butterflies were Common Blues.

We finally reached Glapthorn in the early afternoon. It was still dull at times, but a lot warmer and humid, and there were a lot of people here as well. It only took a few minutes to find a Black Hairstreak (in the past we have really struggled to find any at most sites we have visited), then we found several more. The local recorder suggested we go round to another clearing as they were coming down to the dewberry flowers, and here we saw many more, with maybe half a dozen at any one time-and there were even more further up. seems like it was a good spring with very high numbers recored throughout the area. It seems to have been a bumper year for them, perhaps the winter and spring weather enabled many more than usual to survive without succumbing to predation or disease.

On the way home we stopped off at Baldock Services. The bank to the south was covered in Pyramidal Orchids, though unfortunately those in the grass beside the footpath had been mown. Bee Orchids were also out with maybe six flowering plants. I was last here a few years ago and saw more Bees, and a nearby area had Common Broomrape then which I had hoped to photograph but the area was completely covered by scrub. Apparently there is some near Lister Hospital so I may have to look there in the next few weeks.