Three Stops for Butterflies

Watering the garden was a must this morning, and I was happy to see more butterflies at the Ashland Community Gardens.  There was one tattered Great Spangled Fritillary checking out the butterfly garden and about six Northern Broken Dashes buzzing around the pink Coneflowers in the back.

Great Spangled Fritillary

old and tattered

 Northern Broken Dash

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I hadn't been to Stearns Farm yet this summer and I wanted to check it out.  There were a couple of Common Sootywings and one Black Swallowtail, but that was about it.  The Black Swallowtail was cooperative for some nice photos, though, which made it worth the stop.

Black Swallowtail

Common Sootywing 

looks like it may be laying an egg

Ovipositing

Common Sootywing

Little Blue Dragonlet (female)

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Next stop was a slow-paced hike at Breakneck Hill Conservation Land.  The temp had already climbed into the mid 80s, and the humidity was fierce.  I had water in the car, but I didn't carry it with me and regretted that decision as soon as I climbed the first hill.  I kept to the trail that borders the woods, so that I could enjoy slightly cooler temps in the shade of the trees.  That is the only thing that made hiking tolerable.  There were lots of butterflies about.  My high count for a single species was 16 Common Wood Nymphs.

Common Wood Nymph

Little Glassywing

Eastern-Tailed Blue

Spicebush Swallowtail

Banded Hairstreak

Little Wood Satyr

Black Swallowtail

Clouded Sulphur