July 2016 - part 1
2nd July 2016 - (Saturday, Szombat)
My 2-hour morning visit was, once again, under blue skies and relentless sun. Although the battle is lost for 2016 to keep water in The Bowl, it would be very nice if we could have a few heavy showers now and again. We need these to keep the flowering plants alive and in good condition. The Bowl is full of Purple Loosestrife - Lythrum salicaria - Réti füzény and Meadow Fleabane - Inula britannica - Réti peremizs,and this mass of flowers is attracting lots of butterfly species, many of them in good numbers. For instance, there were about 6 Great Banded Grayling there today, plus around 8 Queen of Spain Fritillary. A Scarce Swallowtail escaped the camera, as did 2 very bright male Fritillaries (probably Spotted). There was also a suspicion of either a Cardinal or a Silver-washed Fritillary ... or both ! Despite these 'misses', I still managed to capture images of most species.
4th July 2016 - (Monday, Hétfő)
Teréz took Robika to the SQ for a short, morning visit. One butterfly not photographed was the Eastern Bath White.
5th July 2016 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
Today, 7 butterfly species were NOT photographed by me (Marbled White, Swallowtail, Scarce Swallowtail, Clouded Yellow, Great Banded Grayling, Peacock, Eastern Bath White), but 18 other species WERE: Wood White, Small Heath, Small Skipper, Common Blue, Mallow Skipper, Brown Argus, Lesser Fiery Copper, Small White, Silver-studded Blue, Meadow Brown, Reverdin's Blue, Painted Lady, Dingy Skipper, Green-veined White, Blue-spot Hairstreak, Large White, Eastern Baton Blue, and Slow Hairstreak. Yes ... that's a total of 25 species for the day, although we still have to check the pix of Teréz and Andi ! It was very hot today, well over 30 degs., but cloud kept covering the sun at regular intervals.
Here are Teréz's pix from the same day (5th July 2016:
6th July 2016 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
Here are Teréz's pix from the same day (6th July 2016):
8th July 2016 - (Friday, Péntek)
A visit by Teréz and Andi:
And these are Andi's pix for the same day (8th July):
9th July 2016 - (Saturday, Szombat)
My hour-long visit (1713-1811), despite being in the late afternoon, was still staged under very hot and sunny conditions. Once again, strong winds blew across the site. This always amazes me as one would think that The Bowl section would be sheltered, but somehow, this doesn't seem to happen. There weren't too many butterfly species in evidence, and I managed to capture most of them 'on film', even though most were not too helpful. Again, a darter dragonfly (deep red) was seen, and also one of the Lestes damselflies - this, despite there being no water at all on the site. The plants inside The Bowl are now showing serious signs of dehydration, especially the rushes and the Lesser Reedmace. Prolonged, heavy rain required urgently ....... but I'm not too optimistic.