I had a nice trip up to North Yorkshire yesterday in the hope of seeing some of Yorkshires more scare insects.

I had a bit of a list of what I hoped to see, in the end it was somewhat reduced but still ok.

When I first arrived it was obvious that the wind might be an issue as it was gusting quite strongly up the valley.

The first butterfly that I saw was one I had come for-the small pearl bordered fritillary. At first it was quite approachable feeding on the heather and then in the blink of an eye it flew behind me never to be seen again.

After a fruitless wait, I had a walk further into the reserve hoping for some dragon flies and maybe a large heath.

However I was rather optimistic in my thoughts and in the end I only saw a large red damselfly and a rather impressive green tiger beetle.

A local chap suggested that it might be better in the shelter near the bridge, so I headed over there and sure enough there was probably half a dozen occasionally settling nicely in the more sheltered part of the reserve, and this is where I took my best shots.

I called in at Wykeham on the way back in the hope of a honey buzzard but there was no sign.