Sunday, the 9th of August was a busy day as we celebrated the butterflies and dragonflies found on the reserve. After an introductory talk on dragonflies by Ellie Colver of the British Dragonfly Society, about thirty visitors set off on a guided walk around the Meadow Trail. Although the weather was not ideal, we saw most of the insects we hoped for, including the Paxton pits star species: Norfolk Hawker, Variable Damselfly, Scarce Chaser and a very early Willow Emerald damselfly. After lunch we took another walk, down to the river, and this time the butterflies came out for us, including lots of brown argus, gatekeepers, ringlets, meadow browns, red admirals, small skippers and a few purple hairstreaks.
Ellie also helped our younger visitors make model dragonflies and answered their questions about these fascinating insects. We had over two hundred visitors in the Centre and sold lots of drinks and ice creams to raise funds for the Reserve.