July 2018 - Part 1
1st July 2018 - (Sunday, Vasárnap)
2nd July 2018 - (Monday, Hétfő)
3rd July 2018 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
4th July 2018 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
Photos missed: Great Banded Grayling, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow.
5th July 2018 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
A short, afternoon visit, during which the site was rained upon steadily for about 10 minutes by some large raindrops. Again, this only served to 'water the plants'. As I arrived, I met 2 vehicles of the road company, Magyar Közút, and a road sign installed by the company. It appears that there is some company event happening at the airfield this weekend. This explains the rather over-zealous cutting-back of the roadsides. I photographed Silver-studded Blue (male), Wood White, Marbled White, Short-tailed Blue (female), Lesser Spotted Fritillary (male), Sooty Copper (female), Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, and Meadow Brown. With the camera-escapee Holly Blue, that made 9 butterfly species recorded for the day. A young Grass Snake (about 30 cms) slid off the rocks near the reedbed and down towards what remains of the water. It was dark coloured, and there was no chance of a photograph before it vanished into the undergrowth and rocks.
6th July 2018 - (Friday, Péntek)
A fairly short visit, but I still managed to see many interesting things. Butterflies photographed were: Reverdin's Blue (male), Meadow Brown, Wood White, Marbled White, Lesser Spotted Fritillary, Small Heath, Common Blue (female), Short-tailed Blue (about 4 females), and Silver-studded Blue. In addition, these escaped the camera: Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, Great Banded Grayling, Holly Blue, and the first Dryad of the year. This made 13 butterfly species for the day. The Dryad was a lovely fresh specimen ... a rich dark chocolate brown. Unfortunately, it had all the energy of a fresh butterfly, not settling for long, and finally disappearing through the undergrowth. Towards the end of my visit, dark clouds rolled up and thunder sounded, but no rain fell on this area.
9th July 2018 - (Monday, Hétfő)
Although the morning was sunny, I didn't get to the SQ until the afternoon. By this time the sky was partly overcast, and a thunderstorm was threatening to the east, but its threats resulted in no rain. Yesterday afternoon, there a big storm with quite a lot of rain, accompanied by masses of large hailstones. That storm had little effect on the SQ, though, apart from watering the plants. Despite the lack of water in The Bowl, Summer 2018 is proving much better than that of last year, as most of the flowering plants are looking healthy and vibrant, not burnt and shrivelled. Butterflies noted were: Silver-studded Blue, Meadow Brown, Short-tailed Blue, Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Common Blue, Reverdin's Blue, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, Small White, Small Heath, Brown Argus, and four Dryad (one of which was photographed with closed wings, and another with wings open !). With the Marbled White that escaped the camera, 13 species were seen.
10th July 2018 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
My afternoon visit happened under a very mixed sky: sometimes hot sunshine and blue sky, and then partially covered with stormy clouds. A few showers of large raindrops fell on me from time to time, but they weren't enough to cause problems for me, or to drop a large quantity of water onto the site. It was certainly Dryad day, as I saw about 10 of them during my visit. Several other butterflies put in an appearance, including: Reverdin's Blue, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, Short-tailed Blue, Common Blue, Silver-washed Fritillary, Sooty Copper (male and female), Meadow Brown, Small White, Marbled White, Small Heath, Silver-studded Blue, Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, and the first Knapweed Fritillary of 2018 = 15 species. When I arrived, I was startled by a fleeing female Pheasant, as her 8 or 9 chicks dispersed in all directions ! A few minutes later, she made soft calls, hoping to bring them all back to her. This scenario happened at the bottom of the path from the main entrance. A pleasant surprise was finding a female Wild Aspargus plant covered in red berries.