Expected

What with one thing (Skomer) and another (taking care of the Boy Wonder last weekend) it was over a week since I'd last toured the local Odonata sites and recorded my findings, so this morning I drove up to Cleeve Prior to remedy the situation. Frankly, I needn't have bothered: apart from a few damselflies there was nothing much to record. I have to keep reminding myself that it's only because the season kicked off ridiculously early that it feels as though there should be more dragons around by now - in any other year the counts I'm currently getting would be entirely normal.

Elsewhere, the natural year is moving to its usual rhythm. At the weekend the first Wool Carders appeared in the village, which alerted me to expect some Fork-tailed Flower Bees and Small Skippers to turn up very soon - and right on cue, today there were three Small Skippers bickering over possession of the black horehound along the edge of Tilly's field. If I don't find a Fork-tailed Flower Bee by the end of the week, I'll be very surprised indeed.

Despite its common name, this is not our smallest skipper butterfly: the Grizzled, Lulworth and Essex Skippers are all smaller, the Dingy Skipper is about the same size, and the Large Skipper is only slightly bigger. A better name for it might be the Golden Skipper, because when it's fresh like this it almost gleams as it flies. Its preferred habitat is rough grassland, especially where there are both tall grasses and a range of wild flowers. Its primary larval foodplant is Yorkshire-fog.