North Yorkshire 17.06.2012.

Fly Orchid.

Fly Orchid.

Degeer's Longhorn Moth.

Red-necked Footman.

Dingy Skipper.

Small pearl-bordered Fritillary.

With the prospect of adding a new Orchid species to our lists and also a species i had always wanted to see,Chris and myself headed to the forests in North Yorkshire.After meeting up with Allan and Jackie we headed to the first site for our target species.Unfortunately the walk to the site was fairly crap,with light drizzle,but things soon improved as we arrived at the destination.After about 15 minutes Allan shouted us over and there it was the stunning Fly Orchid.It soon became apparent that there wasn't just 1 or 2,but literally hundreds along this hillside meadow,with a guesstimate in the region of at least 500 spikes,an amazing sight!.Other species included Common-spotted Orchid and at least 100 spikes of Common Twayblade,this was certainly a special place.On the walk back to the car we enjoyed great views of a 2nd calendar year male Goshawk as it called and mobbed a passing Common Buzzard,a fantastic sight to see and we also had brief views of a Hobby.The next site we visited was nearby in the valley bottom and consisted of 1 small pond and a valley mire and stream and a larger lake.This area was small,but very productive with another new Orchid for myself,Northern-marsh.It was growing in pretty good numbers as well and another bog speciality Butterwort,was also well distributed over this site.Another brief view of what was probably the same Goshawk over the forest and several Siskin added some bird interest.Also seen here were 5 species of Odonata,which included masses of Common-blue Damselfly,lesser numbers of Large-red Damselfly,a single female Emperor,6 Four-spot Chaser and a stunning male Golden-ringed Dragonfly which i managed to catch to show the others.Today was turning out to be a special day!.Finally we visited another meadow area and added some stunning species to our already impressive list for the day and included a cracking moth species,Red-necked Footman!.It was found resting along the verge side in grass and i managed some great photos of this fairly rare and new species for us all.Another nice find here,was another moth species and was found in similar circumstances to the Red-necked Footman,a cracking Beautiful-golden Y,this species is fairly common,but makes up for it in looks.The final highlights of the day came in the form of a superb female Adder,single Dingy Skipper and at least 6 beautiful,Small pearl-bordered Fritillary,the Frits and Dingy being our first of the year and what a gorgeous butterfly the Frits are.So what a day and a big thank you to Allan and Jackie for showing us around these great sites today,it was brilliant!!.