A Weekend Away

Last weekend I went to see Rammstein Live in Milton Keynes and decided to make a weekend of the event, travelling south on Friday afternoon and making a couple of stops at places I've visited before; Bedford Purlieus and Barnack Hills and Holes. This was my third or fourth visit to Bedford Purlieus and as always, it was buzzing with insect life! This is a very bio-diverse site - there are so many different species here, but I'm sharing only a few.

large skipper

tortoise bugs

a male black tailed skimmer

A longhorn beetle,  Rutpela maculata

female black tailed skimmer

dock bug

It was already rather late in the day when I arrived at Barnack Hills and Holes so I only had a quick, half hour walk. I've been here a couple of times before too, but always in August. Every year I intend to return in April/May when the flowers are blooming, but never do!

There were a few yellow hammers singing around the reserve.

Lots of marbled white and ringlet butterflies too. I'd seen so many of these already at Bedford Purlieus, along with silver washed fritillaries and many other insects!

On the Saturday, I drove up to Grafham Water for a walk.

This is a rather busy reservoir, but I'd spotted a couple of Wildlife Trust areas at one end and that's where I headed for. I walked in ancient woodland that was covered in these shieldbug exuviae.

It was a rather wet walk.

I spotted some lords and ladies, the first I've noticed this summer.

I also found a woodpecker feather.

On the Sunday, before heading home, I visited the RSPB Headquarters reserve in Sandy, Bedfordshire. Three hours here was nowhere near enough time to explore the whole reserve so I'd like to revisit one day.

I hand't not walked far when I met this cockchafer. It was on its back and struggling. On picking it up, it was missing a bit of a leg and had a damaged wing. It couldn't fly or walk terribly well. I moved it into the vegetation beside the path but doubt it survived long after that.

there were lots of gatekeeper butterflies here

A red longhorn beetle, Stictoleptura rubra

I also found the beetle I'd been looking out for since I arrived - a green tiger! I love these and hadn't seen one for a while.

There were also grasshoppers galore on the reserve and we lifted a log and found a devil's coach horse beetle too. I came home with a bit of treasure too - a tawny owl feather and a jay feather.

A rather good weekend!