THE COOMBES WALK

Quite a nice tally of butterflies from the Coombes walk at Hinton parva, just a short distance from home, despite not seeing the ones I was looking for! The half way point  of my walk along the valley floor was barred by a herd of cows, so I made a steep climb up the side of the valley and returned alongside the top hedge. There were the usual marbled whites, meadow browns, small skippers, gatekeepers, also a bright yellow brimstone, a couple of small tortoiseshells, red admirals, large and small whites, green veined white and a comma. 

brimstone

red admiral

small white

comma

small tortoiseshell

barred by some cows!

looking down on the valley floor at The Coombes, Hinton Parva

HACKPEN HILL

I hadn't any plans for today, but with some time on my hands, I was reading through some Oxfordshire butterfly sightings and noticed that Chalkhill Blues and Dark Green fritillaries had been seen at Hackpen Hill near Wantage.  As it was only half an hour's drive, I decided then and there to make a trip over to see if I could locate any.

Having located the car park, I walked up part of the Ridgeway Path before deviating through a gate through a wheat field to  the entrance of the reserve. The usual  grassland butterflies were in abundance. I saw a few common blues, and was on my way back, when I noticed a slightly larger blue butterfly flitting about. It stopped a few times, with wings closed,  but then eventually slowly opened them a tiny bit to reveal  the chalkhill blue markings.

crossing the wheat field

walking down Hackpen hill

common blue

marbled white - I love the underwing pattern

chalkhill blue

chalkhill blue opening  its wings

juvenile green woodpecker in the garden at home

 

yellow hammer on the Ridgeway path

THE GOOD WEATHER CONTINUES...

Another fine day, so I started off with a trip to Webbs Wood and Echo Lodge meadows (first visit). I walked through meadow on the southern edge of the wood, where oaks overhang, scanning them as I went, then suddenly I noticed a small, pale butterfly flitting about. Initially it was too high to identify but then it came down to head height which enabled me to identify it as a purple hairstreak and get a couple of photos of the underside of its wings.  In the meadow were the usual browns and whites, also saw a pristine red admiral but it didn't stop. 

I called in briefly at Ravensroost Wood but no silver washed fritillaries or white admirals around, although, surprisingly I spotted a brimstone. Afterwards, I made off towards Cheltenham to Prestbury Hill reserve, looking for dark green fritillaries ( none seen), but there was a single common blue as well the other grassland butterflies.

On arrival back home, one of the green woodpeckers was on the back lawn.

green woodpecker

Species seen at Webbs Wood: red admiral, purple hairstreak, marbled white, small skipper, green veined white, meadow brown, gatekeeper.

Species seen at Ravensroost: brimstone, meadow brown, gatekeeper, green veined white, small white, marbled white, small skipper. 

Species seen at Prestbury: common blue, speckled wood, gatekeeper, small tortoiseshell, meadow brown, marbled whtie, small skipper. 

brimstone

small tortoiseshell

common blue

purple hairstreak

green woodpecker

PURPLE EMPEROR - JUST!

First day of the school summer holidays and during the morning I heard a racket coming from the willow tree, which turned out to be a family of green woodpeckers. Having been disturbed they flew onto a neighbours rooftop.

I then left for Savernake Forest as I wanted to see a Purple Emperor if  I could, After arriving at about 10 am I found a couple of others already standing around the tall stone column which is known to be a favourite spot for these butterflies as they like to taste the salt from it. The weather certainly was a little cooler than recently, but it warmed up and after about 20 minutes we could see one flying around the top of the oak trees where they prefer to live. Eventually a butterfly was  seen perched on the side of the column,  though  still pretty near the top. I did just manage a photo as it didn't rest for long in one spot. I also saw a couple of silver washed fritillaries flying around but not settling.

I waited around a bit, but it had started clouding over so in the end I decided to go back home via Barbury Castle. Here there were plenty of marbled whites, meadow browns, and a few gatekeepers, small heath, green veined white and just one small tortoiseshell .

long distance shot of green woodpeckers

purple emperor

gatekeeper

small heath

green veined white

marbled white

RETURN VISIT TO OTMOOR

I drove over to RSPB Otmoor today, to see what I could find in the way of butterflies. I couldn't find any black hairstreaks, and there was no one around to ask, so had to be satisfied with  a comma, red admiral, speckled wood,  meadow brown, ringlet, a few whites, and my first gatekeeper of the year. 

I was also pleased to get some photos of a turtle dove, which I had heard but not seen properly earlier in the year. 

comma

gatekeeper, first of the year

gatekeeper

turtle dove

SILVER WASHED FRITILLARY

As the weather was sunnier today, I made a return visit to Ravensroost woods to search for silver washed fritillaries and white admirals. I was pleased to find about 3 silver washed frillaries, but no white admirals were seen. I met Robin Griffiths who was doing the transect recording, he said he'd just seen one white admiral briefly this year so far. However, he did mention that someone had seen 3 white letter hairstreaks at Stratton woods, so I made a mental note to visit there. 

Altogether at Ravensroost I saw, silverwashed fritillaries, large skipper, meadow brown, speckled wood, ringlet and marbled white. 

A visit on the way home to Stratton wood yielded no hairstreaks but I did see  a  small skipper in addition to the meadow browns, ringlets and marbled whites. 

large skipper

silver washed fritillary

meadow brown

small skipper

STANTON - MORE DUCKLINGS

A short visit to Stanton Park today. Just meadow browns and ringlets around as far as butterflies are concerned, but I was pleased to find the pair of swans with one cygnet, as I hadn't seen them on my last couple of visits, I wasn't even sure if there were actually any cygnets this year! Also a mallard and a good sized brood of ducklings were seen,  a goldcrest preening above my head and a heron. 

meadow brown in the evening sun

one of the eight ducklings

goldcrest

swans with one cygnet

RAVENSROOST WOOD

I drove over to Ravensroost wood this afternoon, rather optimistically as it had clouded over. This time last year I saw my first silver washed fritillary and white admiral, but there were none about today. Maybe the  weather has delayed things. I did see a few ringlets and meadow browns though and a large skipper. 

entrance to Ravensroost wood

large skipper

PENTYLANDS HIGHWORTH

 I paid  visit to Highworth's country park this afternoon, it was very breezy but quite sunny as I walked around the perimeter of the park. Most noticeable were the 100+ meadow brown butterflies, also quite a few ringlets, a couple of skippers, and some marbled whites. Towards the end of my walk I also spotted a small tortoiseshell.

one of many meadow brown butterflies

ringlet

meadow browns and ringlets sharing a flower head

small tortoiseshell

marbled white, in excellent shape, probably newly emerged

poppies by the gate

DANEWAYS

I have just paid a visit to a nature reserve near Cirencester, which is known for a recent introduction of rare Large blue butterflies.  On arrival , I soon spotted a few marbled white butterflies, which I had not seen this year, also a few ringlets and meadow browns.  I then notice a flutter of blue, a butterfly landed and quickly flew off again, but enough for me to realise I had actually  just seen a large blue.  

I then spent some time looking for it again, but only found more ringlets, meadow browns and marbled whites. Some other visitors told me they had been advised to look at the end of the reserve as two had been seen  there today, so I went with them but after looking around for a while, none was seen so I decided to return slowly to my car. As the others caught up later, they informed me they had found one tatty specimen! 

Oh well I will add it to my list and have another attempt next year abw! That's the thing about butterflies, some are only around for about a month in every year, so you have to have the right weather and availability of time, to spot them.

marbled white underside

marbled white

meadow brown

ringlet