GRAYLINGS

With the grayling butterfly still to find this year, I headed over to  a conifer plantation in a little village called Mortimer, south of Reading, where I  found some of these species last year. It's only a mile down the road from where my daughter lives and these butterflies have a favourite place which is easy to locate i.e. head straight down the track from the road then turn left. Here there is a small dug out quarry area with gravel next to it where heather and gorse like to grow. 

With a little sunshine forecast I parked the car at the gate and made straight for the area mentioned above. Sure enough I soon spotted a few grayling fluttering about from time to time, although I had to wait for the sun to find a gap in the clouds before any would make their presence known. They are masters of disguise and almost impossible to distinguish from the gravel once they have folded down their forewings.