Well having been given permission to continue rabbiting on, I shall!
Bookham Commons, 1st July part 2
After giving up on the prospect that the SWF would come low enough for some closeups I moved on some more, another White Admiral taunting me briefly before gliding back into the undergrowth but my grumbling tummy and the ever increasing temperature forced to turn back.....and get a bit lost! I made it as far as where I took the White Admiral pictures but after that it was all new. Oh well, it felt like I was going in roughly the right direction. I had started to see some Ringlets now as well as the Meadow Browns and Large Skippers. It had turned very cloudy now but the temperature kept them all very active.
There's quite a few bodies of water dotted around the wood and many Blue Damselflies loitered in the sunny glades along with the butterflies. Both Common Blue and Azure but I was interested to find that they never seemed to be found together. each group always seemed to all one or the other species. I suppose it makes sense when you think about it, time is short for these little things so you don't want to waste time flirting with the wrong species!
![Azure Damselfly male, Bookham Commons.JPG (572.89 KiB) Viewed 4439 times Male Azure Damselfly](./files/thumb_13753_bf9f421523f818a1af27d74628c77761)
- Male Azure Damselfly
It was whilst watching these that a particularly large and cumbersome looking butterfly flapped past me, it seemed to be struggling and I quickly realised I was looking at two, a female SWF dragging the limp body of her mate behind her. Despite her struggles (and my willing her to go to ground) she managed to gain height and land halfway up an Oak tree
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
. I waited for some time but they seemed to have settled and all I could get were yet more long distant shots.
I carried on, hoping to find a path that looked familiar. A male Black-tailed Skimmer tempted me to take his picture but flew off just as I pressed the shutter leaving me with a beautifully composed picture of the bare path! 'Git' I thought!
Shortly after this I followed another WA around a patch of bramble in a clearing and put up a female Black-tailed Skimmer. The WA had vanished, as they seem to do a lot, but the dragonfly settled a short distance in front of me and on closer inspection I saw she was having her lunch. I carefully crept closer and unlike the male of the species they seem to rely on their camouflage for protection (the males being powder blue don't really blend in too well!), so I was able to take a whole run of shots as the unfortunate victim was gradually consumed over a few minutes. Here's an abridged selection:
![Black-tailed Skimmer female eating damselfly, Bookham Commons #2.JPG (1012.59 KiB) Viewed 4439 times Going...](./files/thumb_13753_3cfa6f30c1a72070f4d3297c09f54ff6)
- Going...
![Black-tailed Skimmer female eating damselfly, Bookham Commons #5.JPG (1.27 MiB) Viewed 4439 times Going...](./files/thumb_13753_61ee4843b5372af98772afaa8f32949f)
- Going...
![Black-tailed Skimmer female eating damselfly, Bookham Commons #6.JPG (1.18 MiB) Viewed 4439 times Going...](./files/thumb_13753_a6aea871fded930e6b0a3858fc6b2ed2)
- Going...
![Black-tailed Skimmer female eating damselfly, Bookham Commons #8.JPG (1.13 MiB) Viewed 4439 times nearly gone...](./files/thumb_13753_752d1f7db4747195a20f9d764a633d1d)
- nearly gone...
![Black-tailed Skimmer female, Bookham Commons #2.JPG (938.85 KiB) Viewed 4439 times Gone!](./files/thumb_13753_f651c303ded6e9730ef7f7f5c3f60a6c)
- Gone!
She let me get really very close!
and I actually fine them more attractive than their gaudy mates
She finally flew off leaving me to continue trying to work out where I was. With the sun starting to come out again the temperatures were rocketing up and I was sweating like the proverbial swine! I found another car park with a map and wandered off in what seemed to be the general direction I needed to go in. More WA showed up occasionally, all too fleetingly though. Walking down an open sunlit path another butterfly was flying towards me at waist height. Powerful flaps and long glides combined with its large size instantly telling me it was an Emperor. As he approached I began to hope the sweaty mass of exposed skin in his path would be too much to resist but alas I was completely ignored and I watched helplessly as he vanished around the bend
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
, if only there had been a nice steaming pile of something unpleasant nearby!
As luck would have it though I also realised I was on familiar ground and set off heading for the car park I'd started at. 10 minutes later I was just about to leave when I noticed another Skimmer watching me, she posed for a shot before a dag walker passed too close.
Behind me, Ignoring everything, was a Small Tortoiseshell. A female getting exceptionally excited over some fresh nettle growth.
After much faffing around she found the perfect leaf to lay on
only to fly off 30 seconds later
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
. I checked and she'd laid one egg. Thats going to be a very lonely cat when it hatches!
So in the end I saw between 6 and 12 White Admiral (I have no idea how far they wander), 2 Purple Emperor, at least 10 Silver Washed Fritillary, lots of Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Large Skippers, Speckled Woods and 1 Red Admiral
Well it was time to catch the train back to London, which was to my great disappointment not air conditioned...well you could open a window but it's not really the same is it!
The day didn't end there though but I shall leave that to the next entry
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)