A sunny visit to Maple Lodge NR

I had a nice afternoon at Maple Lodge today - the sun shone for most of it which meant there were a lot of critters about for me to try and photograph

 

But first stop had to be at the Rotunda Hide to see the ever growing expanse of emerging Southern Marsh Orchids

 

Dave Simms count today was 2725 !!!! Which is pretty incredible when five years ago the count on 31/05/14 was just 438 !

 

 

There was a lovely Small Magpie Moth on a tarpaulin by the wildlife pond

 

 

And the fairly windless day meant there were a few butterflies settling for a photo shoot

Peacock

male Orange Tip showing the detailed underwing

male Orange Tip showing the upperwing

fresh Brimstone

tatty Brimstone

Along the Woodland Walk a cacophony of soft calls made me look up to see a small flock of juvenile Long-tailed Tits

 

 

There were several hoverfly species on the wing today but I only managed pics of two species

 

Episyrphus balteatus

 I'm pretty sure the hoverfly below is one of the Cheilosia species - possibly Cheilosia proxima

 

 

This tiny little critter below is a Nettle Weevil

 

 

As to be expected at this time of year there were hundreds of damselflies about

Below are female and male Common Blues

 

 

I think todays high-light was spotting this stunning female Broad Bodied Chaser in the Paddock

 

As always a very enjoyable few hours on site