After another rainy week, the weather briefly improved and privided me with a mix of sun and clouds, very weak to strong winds, and a usually-comfortable 22°C (10:43 AM). Due to the humid air, however, parts of the "Bog Hill" felt like a sauna and most butterflies were as restless as prior to a thunderstorm 20 kilometers away.
+-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+ | Species | Location | Status | +-------------------------+---------------------------------|--------+ | Coenonympha pamphilus | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Issoria lathonia | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Maniola jurtina | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Melanargia galathea | FFH "Bog Hill" / Car Repair | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Melitaea athalia | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Pieris napi | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Pieris rapae | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Plebejus argus | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Polyommatus icarus | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Thymelicus lineola | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Thymelicus sylvestris | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Unidentified dragonfly | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | +-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+
This trip marked my first attempt at expanding this zone, as this FFH territory consists of two hills. Sadly, Approaching the second one revealed that a field my parents and I used for a year when I was very young still is in a very poor state species-wise. Just like back then, only a single P. rapae was observed. The hill itself has become largely inaccessible due to paths that were created during the "LIFE+ programme" now returning back to its old, grassy states.
Most butterflies were seen at my regular spots at the path leading to the western brink of "Bog Hill". The entire area was largely dominated by P. rapae, P. napi, T. sylvestris and T. lineola, the western brink itself by T. sylvestris, T. lineola and M. galathea. All whites – at least two dozens – were seen at one of out five muddy puddles; M. galathea, meanwhile, were the only species seen on greater knapweed. Only a handful of individuals of P. argus and only two of P. icarus were counted, while C. pamphilus was a single observation. M. athalia was counted three times, hinting at a slowly growing population.
On the last path hundrets of meters south to the northern hill I briefly spotted a dragonfly I was unable to identify. The only thing I managed to make out that it was relatively big and NOT red, rather dark blue/green-ish. Because of this, I decided to not speculate on whether it was an individual of A. cyanea or not.
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Previous oblogs state that I did not specify any observations of individuals from the genus "Thymelicus". While I was again confronted with many adults that shared characteristics of both T. sylvestris and T. lineola, this time I was able to observe some "easier" cases. Still, any observations raising my doubts will be counted as "unsecure" and thus will be listed by each's respective genus only.