Early June

I‘m sure this isn’t the first time that I’ve mentioned how strange the weather has been this year. I went to three reserves this week and although it was nice to get out, I either didn’t see what should have been there, or I didn’t get many photographs of what was there.

Take six-spot burnet moths for example. From the middle of July there should have been hundreds covering the scabious flowers at pretty much every reserve. This year, I have seen just two individuals from a distance and taken no photographs at all.

On the other hand, I can’t complain because I have many lovely images that I didn’t expect at all and I daresay I will be sharing them over the coming months. It’s been a good year for flower crab spiders. Either there really are more about, or I am getting better at finding them. I finally caught up with some beautiful demoiselles that have eluded me in previous years. I even managed to photograph a stunning garlic snail that appeared after a downpour.

These photographs were all taken on 2nd June 2022 at my local reserve. It seems I have neglected to blog about so many of them. I will try and get through more in the future.

The images above and below are of a lovely male banded demoiselle found in one of the uncut meadows. It used to be one of my favourite haunts for damselflies and yet I found it cut back before the end of May this year. To be fair, I hadn’t found much in the previous couple of weeks and the reserve manager left a different meadow uncut instead.

Next are two meadow plant bug nymphs sharing the same grass.

A pair of mating robberflies buried deep in the undergrowth.

A female white-legged damselfly.

A female blue-tailed damselfly of the rufescens form.

A very striking footballer hoverfly.

Finally, a green-eyed cranefly, with the light catching his wings.