Cwm Cadlan

I have been planning for a couple weeks to go up the Dragonfly ponds near the limestone pavement, I almost got there a couple off weeks ago with Phil but the heavens opened up. Today was hit and miss so I sat in the car and I thought I am here now so go for it. The temperature was not very warm and it was cloudy but has I got halfway up the sun came out for a bit and I thought maybe I will be lucky. When I got to the pond I found a couple of  Emerald Damselflies and a freshly emerged Common Hawker Dragonfly, it was hugging the south bank and down low in the rush but unless I had a small boat or I could walk on water I had no chance of getting any photos. So I sat down for a bit and I found this very wet Drinker Moth Caterpillar and after that things got better and I found another three Common Hawkers, The one I picked up was in area where he was being blown about so I picked it up and put it in a sheltered part to dry out and it does not matter how many times you see this it still gives me a buzz.

I found this larvae in a small flooded on  the side of the pond and I was trying to get close and slow take the grass down in front of it and it just dropped in the water and it was floating on the surface and little did I know there was nobody home and it was empty and the dragonfly had already emerged.

On the limestone Pavement there were Meadow Pipits everywhere and a couple of Skylarks and a single Wheatear and when I got back to the car I had a bird flying low over the floor and fast and I thought cuckoo but on looking closer it was this Sparrowhawk. She must have thought she was in Mountain Mars Bar central with so many Pipits, I also had a fly over Tree Pipit. Down by the cattle grid there was birds everywhere, I saw loads of Stonechat and a couple of young Wheatears and more Pipits .