Bolton Percy Station - Holly Blue

A trip out to one of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's smaller reserves - Bolton Percy Station, near Tadcaster provided further Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) sightings and this year's first glimpse of a Small Copper.  





Male Holly Blue (Bolton Percy)

Female Holly Blue (Adel)

 





The Holly Blue that we saw at Adel churchyard was a female (see the black border to the upperside forewing in the pic above right), by the lack of a black border on the upperwing of this one (above left) I'd say its a male. 



Also at Bolton Percy Station, our first Small Copper sighting of the year.

A Green Veined White (Pieris napi)







Bolton Percy Station...but not quite

Having decided to familiarise ourselves with more of the Yorkshire Wildlife reserves, we headed for Bolton Percy Station, about three miles from Tadcaster. Having subsequently checked out the reserve online I now realise that we didn't quite hit our target and ended up on the opposite side of the railway line to our intended destination. Doh! Nevertheless we enjoyed the wander and still managed some enjoyable sightings with a couple of firsts for the year.

The first of the firsts of the year, a Small Heath.

And to add a sense of scale, the Small Heath sharing a leafy perch with a fly.

Another first of the year, this Meadow Brown. The forewing colour orange and buff with a single strong black eyespot and the brown hindwing with smaller black spots.

A dainty Common Blue feeding on Bramble flowers and Purple Vetch.

A beautiful female Small Skipper