Heather's Nature Notes: THE PEARLS OF PRIDDY

It is always nice to be able add a new species to my butterfly list, and with a bank holiday free I decided it would be a good time to seek out a small pearl bordered fritillary. I have tried, unsucessfully on two occasions to find these at Bentley Wood near Salisbury but sadly was always too late , usually because family committments and/or unsuitable weather on a Saturday prevented me from going earlier. In fact the numbers have also been reducing there and the blog hasn't recorded any of them at all in recent days. Last year I visited Priddy Mineries in Somerset in the hope of finding one from a second brood but again had no success.

However, now was in the middle of their usual flight perid so I was hopefully of adding this species to my list of species seen. It was already sunny and quite warm when I left home at 7.45 a.m and after filling up with fuel, I made the trip down to Somerset, arriving shortly before 9.15. Two other cars were already parked in the long layby and as I shut the car door I suddenly saw an orange butterfly fly off . Could that be the fritillary I was looking for.?

Priddy mineries was once a lead mining area but is now a nature reserve with a wide range of flora and fauna. Priddy pools forms part of the reserve and supports all three types of newt and a range of dragonflies.

Heading down the main track I made for an area where I remembered I had seen most butterflies on my previous visit, passing a stonechat and whitethroat both perched up on some brambles.

This was a sheltered grassy area next to a grassy mound criss crossed with narrow paths. Initially there were not many butterflies about apart from a few small heaths so I took another track past a pond where some people were fishing. I did spot a couple of possible fritillaries but they were not near enough to identify so I returned to my original spot. It wasn't long before I saw a couple of bright orange butterflies much closer. Eventually one of them landed, and I could see it was a fritillary. Another surprised me by landing on my camera bag, and gave excellent views whereby I could identify clearly the upper wings as a small pearl bordered fritillary!. However, my phone was inside the bag and my main camera could not focus at that close distance so no photo possible! Eventually I managed to get a few shots of the fritillary with wings open amongst some dry grass. As it became warmer the butterflies seemed more reluctant to land and I had to be satisfied with watching them fluttering over the grasses. The maximum I saw at any one time was 3 but I think I saw about half a dozen individuals altogether in different places.

As it was nearing lunch time I returned to the car stopping off for a while to sit in the warm sun by the large pool to admire the damselflies and dragonflies. After lunch I decided to walk a hundred yards or so down the road to Stockhill woods. This piece of woodland is known for long eared owls and nightjars but I was obviously not going to see them today. It was also busy with day trippers so after a short circular walk I headed back to the mineries. It felt as if a breeze was picking up so I thought it might encourage the fritillaries to settle and close their wings. At my original spot I found a couple of butterflies and one of them did settle for a bit and I got a quick shot showing the underwings with their 'pearls' although as before it was hidden amongst some grasses. By now it was getting quite hot and more and more people were turning up at this beauty spot so it was obviously time to go!! However I pleased to add number 51 to my list of species seen, Only 8 more to go but several of these will necessitate trips up to the north of the country and one over to the Isle of Wight which will obviously need a bit more planning!