No large blues again today, which wasn’t unexpected! However, Collard keeps me busy with other creatures to find; the hill is a surprisingly good place for dragonflies and damselflies considering how far it is from any significant water body. I’ve had Emperor, Broad-bodied chaser, black-tailed skimmer, ruddy darter and brown hawker dragonflies and a lot of common blue damselflies. The brown hawker dragonfly was lovely to see today, it doesn’t seem to have very many records in Somerset, but may be another one of our Odonata species that is expanding its range.
The best find of today however, goes to a member of the Diptera family. A very rare bee-fly landed right by my feet as I was enjoying the sun on the bench at the top of the hill; Villa cingulata, the Downland bee-fly! I only managed a couple of shoddy pictures with my phone, but hope to find it again tomorrow and take some better pictures.
Villa cingulata © Steven Falk
From butterflies to moths, dragonflies, birds and flies, there’s plenty to see on Collard Hill on a sunny day! I have only two more days left now and hope to find some other interesting creatures to add to the list!
The National Trust's Large Blue Blog 