A new butterfly and dragonfly species to add to the lists

Although I've always been interested in flora and fauna, particularly birds, since I moved over to the East Coast butterflies and dragonflies have become increasingly interesting as there are so many more here than I'm used to seeing.

So when I got an opportunity to visit a site on Monday morning with a friend who is an expert in butterflies and moths to see a butterfly I haven't seen yet, I jumped at it. We were in Scarborough for the weekend so this was perfect timing.

We met in a car park north west of Scarborough to see a Green Hairstreak butterfly. I've seen them in books of course but the here was the chance to see one (or more) for the first time.

Green Hairstreak butterfly

Green Hairstreak

Green Hairsteak

Seeing the butterfly on bilberry and on the ground in different light and backgrounds showed up the difference that light can make to an image.

This morning I was on my usual walk through Hornsea and past the Mere when I saw a couple of dragonflies. Yesterday was the first day this year I had seen any, but they were distant with no chance of id. These two however were close so I waited for one to settle and grabbed a few photos.

I'm still very much in the early days of dragonfly identification so I got the field guide out and also checked the web sites to get an id. Even when I thought I'd got it, I wasn't sure enough, so I posted a photo on a dragonfly Facebook group and got confirmation - Hairy Dragonfly, which is a new species for me 😊

Hairy Dragonfly

Hairy Dragonfly

Had a nice view of a situation that happens pretty often between two species of birds. When a new barn Owl box is put up you can pretty much guarantee that the first bird to have a look will be a Stock Dove. They are usually the first to occupy the box as well. So when I saw both species on a box together I had to get a photo, even though it was so far away.

Barn Owl vs Stock Dove