Summer on the heath

[puddleshark]

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens).








A July afternoon beside the marshes. Stonechats scolding from low perches on conifer saplings, and now and then a bumblebee buzzing about the heather: but mostly heat and silence.

A few Keeled Skimmer and Four-spotted Chaser dragonflies on the wing, battling over territory above the marsh pools. Not nearly as many as in previous years.

And I haven't seen any Green Tiger beetles at all this summer.

But the tiny Silver-studded Blue butterflies were out in good numbers yesterday, fluttering moth-like, a few inches above the heather.