I managed to squeeze in a quick visit to Ravensroost Woods early this afternoon in between an electrician's visit and a meet- up with friends. The sun came out just as I arrived which made me hopeful of seeing the largest of the fritillaries, the silver washed fritillary.
I walked fairly briskly down the main track, which had plenty of ringlets and meadow browns fluttering each side, crossed over another track, through a gate and round three bends to arrive at an area adjacent to a pond, where there is a small clearing and an area of brambles. which is always a popular place for butterflies. Within a few minutes I had found a couple of silver washed fritillaries ( new) which were nectaring on the thistle-like flowers. At the pond, there were male and female emperor dragonflies, broad bodied chaser, brown hawker, large red damselfly, common blue damselfly.
As I was speaking to the man who does the butterfly transect for the wood, a small purplish-grey butterfly passed us and fluttered up into a tree. I couldn't see where it landed but he found it in his binoculars and confirmed it was a purple hairstreak ( new). He told me that he had seen 2 white admirals and more silver washed fritillaries further along the track so I followed it but only saw SWF but no white admirals.
I retraced my steps to the pond, where a couple of people said that they'd just been watching a white admiral posing in front of them but it had now gone! I waited and eventually saw 3 white admirals but none was near enough for a photo. Other butterflies seen on my visit were red admiral, small skipper, speckled wood and comma. I would like to have remained longer in the wood but my time was limited and I had to leave. Hopefully I will be able to fit in another visit before the month is over.
No comments:
Post a Comment