Wednesday 4th July – continued.
After spending a couple of hours at Prees Heath as described above, we decided to move on to Whixall Moss which is only a few miles away.
We parked up in the car park by the canal bridge at SJ 493354 and almost immediately a Small Tortoiseshell was seen at the beginning of the path past the bungalow opposite.
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 138resize.jpg (389.1 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Small Tortoiseshell - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_9ea0b390b571cb67416bff651584bf83)
- Small Tortoiseshell - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
Continuing down the path we went through the gate into the reserve and through a short wooded stretch that was literally alive with Ringlets fluttering about amongst the long and still very wet grass.
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 141resize.jpg (463.05 KiB) Viewed 8574 times View through entrance gate looking through 'Ringlet City'](./files/thumb_10101_dcc9fc09e9311abc223f0af0d55aedef)
- View through entrance gate looking through 'Ringlet City'
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 144resize.jpg (481.69 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Ringlets in wet grass - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_dc4cc5a48665202e70d4cf73607207dc)
- Ringlets in wet grass - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 147resize.jpg (414.45 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Ringlet - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_f67f122d340a723c1c06967e821cf362)
- Ringlet - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 154resize.jpg (412.45 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Ringlet - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_0e70c90406dada23e630dc2ca7061550)
- Ringlet - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
The weather by this time was still overcast but the showers had stopped and it was feeling quite warm.
Coming out of the trees onto the moss trail, within minutes we saw a couple of Large Heaths flying around a few yards into the moss itself..
These remained frustratingly out of reach for photographs as there was no way that we were going to try and follow them into the moss as it was obvious that going off the paths would be very foolhardy, in fact I believe that to do so requires a permit here.
Following the recent weather the actual paths were very soft and muddy and we really had to be careful where we walked.
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 183resize.jpg (357.26 KiB) Viewed 8574 times View along main moss trail](./files/thumb_10101_a569e5307a0470314cdf5e02c31bc458)
- View along main moss trail
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 184resize.jpg (418.22 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Looking North West across the Moss towards Wales.](./files/thumb_10101_a76acdd7a28dbd51ea9ed85e515af14a)
- Looking North West across the Moss towards Wales.
We slowly walked the length of the path through the middle of the moss seeing more than 30 Large Heaths but only managing to get a few record shots at maximum zoom.
During this time the clouds occasionally thinned a bit with the sun even popping out a few times and we noticed how quickly the Large Heaths would disappear and reappear according to the cloud cover.
Looking down a side path off the main trail we noticed a Large Heath slowly fluttering along and settling every few yards.
Approaching this individual slowly we finally managed to take some better photos as it perched a few times along the path before taking off into the moss.
The photos below are all of this one individual which looked nice and fresh and knowing how difficult this species can be to photograph due to the habitat I was well chuffed with these
I am afraid I am not familiar enough with this species to tell if it a male or female.
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 182resize.jpg (417.2 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Side path off main trail where Large Heath photos were taken](./files/thumb_10101_6ca007fd0d0244807b1424aa16e509cd)
- Side path off main trail where Large Heath photos were taken
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 171resize.jpg (432.7 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_70f6410c5960429ef78176fefc8eaa9a)
- Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 174resize.jpg (483.99 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_02835bc74b35b7ae637503ba2663ae7a)
- Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 175resize.jpg (354.59 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_d5154db20596f1b481679f2e6f56b16b)
- Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 178resize.jpg (354.6 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_8b3f89a854d2a85293067aad593e6f89)
- Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 180resize.jpg (370.06 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_05429dc64ffcd67edac49e5ad6876c6d)
- Large Heath - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
There were also good numbers of Large Skippers and Meadow Browns around the paths nearer the edges of the moss.
Also seen were some medium sized Dragonflies but these were very active and did not come close enough to ID.
We did manage to ID a number of Damselflies including some delicate looking Emerald Damselflies that almost disappeared against the background vegetation when they took off.
![Whixall Moss 04.07.2012 210resize.jpg (359.36 KiB) Viewed 8574 times Emerald Damselfly - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012](./files/thumb_10101_a4d9c2a31dd2baee9d1c58c33cfcbbd8)
- Emerald Damselfly - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012
After our earlier spell at Prees Heath and now seeing Large Heaths here we already considered our day a great success. The day got even better on our return to Prees Heath as described in the previous post
Bye for now,
Neil F.