June 2016 - part 3
22nd June 2016 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
It was sunny and VERY hot for my morning visit, and I found that the water in The Bowl had almost completely gone. There was still some water in Rock Bath 1, but, for how much longer? Ironically, I recorded a Darter dragonfly on the site ! Hopefully, most of the amphibian young were able to complete their development in time. Some very nice butterflies about: male Adonis Blue, male Meleager's Blue, Marbled White, and Short-tailed Blue. Most butterflies were far too active due to the high temperature, and those I missed with the camera were: Wood White, and a very bright Fritillary, which I suspect was a male Spotted Fritillary.
23rd June 2016 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
A brief visit by Teréz.
24th June 2016 - (Friday, Péntek)
Very hot, very sunny, and very windy, for my late-morning visit. In fact it was so hot that I even considered NOT going this morning. But, as always with the SQ, it is always wise to visit, no matter what the conditions. I was rewarded with the first-ever photos of the exquisite Eastern Owlfly - Libelloides macaronius - Keleti rablópille to be taken at the SQ. It's true that one photo (showing open wings) does already appear on this web site species list, but that photo was actually taken by me a few years ago at Szenkut in Hungary. Today's specimen just flew up in front of me, but luckily, it returned to settle close by. Unluckily, it chose a very tall grass stem to perch on, and the wind kept blowing other grass stems in front of 'my' insect. At least I managed to capture it reasonably well. For the second day running, I heard the movement of 'something quite large' in the reedbed. Today, as I was hunting around the reedbed, looking for the Owlfly again, a reasonable size Rose Deer (Őz) suddenly burst from the reedbed, ran across the Bowl, and up the slope near the Tree of Heaven (Ecetfa) cluster. No photos, as I was trying to change lenses ... why, oh why didn't I just shoot with the standard lens ??? A few butterfly species escaped the camera today, including: about 6 Marbled White, a Wood White, and a quite large, quite light, blue butterfly ... possibly a male Mealeager's ?? The Bowl now appears to be dry, and there is very little water in Rock Bath 1. Unlike previous years, we will not be bringing containers of water to RB1, as the power of nature is just too much.
26th June 2016 - (Sunday, Vasárnap)
Another very hot day, so I waited until 1830 to start my visit. Even so, it was still very warm. I found that ALL water has now gone from the Small Quarry, and some of the wetland plants in The Bowl are beginning to turn yellow. Other flowering plants are also changing colour, and some are beginning to shrivel in the drought conditions. Not too many butterfly species in evidence tonight. Most were Skippers, either Small or Essex. Again, the Marbled White refused to pose for me ! Several small insects and spiders were on display, including a few moth species.
Here are Teréz's pix from the same day (26th June). The first visit was very short, but she popped in again on the way home for a longer study.
27th June 2016 - (Monday, Hétfő)
At about 1230 we had a massive thunder storm arrive, and lots of rain was dropped. 30 minutes later, I was at the SQ to see what effect this development had on 'things watery' at the site. As I arrived, I could see a strong flow of water coming down the hill and turning into the top irrigation channel. Further investigation showed that a respectable waterfall was in action. As this is such a rare occurrence, I shot a video as well as still pix ! A walk around the site revealed that all 3 HQ channels were working well, and that there was some water in all 3 Rock Baths. When I left the site 1 hour later, the rain had stopped, and the water flow coming down the airfield had lessened dramatically. Oh well, at least the plants got watered !
29th June 2016 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
My morning visit turned out to be a super one for butterflies ! I photographed 18 species, and missed another two ! The 18 were: Silver-studded Blue (female), Great Banded Grayling (which liked my new bush hat!), Marbled White, Slow Hairstreak, Short-tailed Blue, Essex Skipper, Small Copper, Pearly Heath, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Lesser Fiery Copper, Large Skipper (the 1st for 2016), Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Large White, Eastern Bath White, Small White, Painted Lady, and Meleager's Blue (male). The two that 'escaped' were: Wood White, and an unidentified Fritillary. As you will see, there were a few other things around, too ! These included that spectacular yellow Eastern Owlfly - Libelloides macaronius - Keleti rablópille ..... which popped-up from roughly the same position as last time (24th June), but sadly, instead of returning to the launch site, it flew upwards, and OUT of the SQ !
30th June 2016 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
Another morning visit, on yet another hot day. Clouds kept passing by the sun, to keep me on my toes regarding exposure settings. All water has now gone (again) from the site, including the dribble that was in RB1. Hopefully, we'll soon have some more showers to keep our flowering plants alive, or we'll lose many of the insects to other areas.