Saturday, 20 May 2023

PAICES WOOD BC GUIDED WALK

It was a lovely sunny morning for a Butterfly Conservation guided walk around Paices Wood, Aldermaston, Berks. I spent three hours in the company of fellow enthusiasts exploring various parts of this country park, which was most enjoyable. 

At first we found it difficult to locate any butterflies at all, as we made our way through some wooded areas, although found plenty of speckled yellow moths and beautiful demoiselles. 

One of our company found a slow worm which he picked up and showed members of the group, although our leader wasn't too keen!  From a pond dipping platform we watched a few newts as they came near the surface of the water.

As the temperature warmed up we came out into a more open area which we were told would provide most of our butterfly sightings... which it did. We found dingy skippers and green hairstreaks, as well as small heath. Someone spotted a couple of brown argus butterflies, but I didn't see those.  I was shown a Mother shipton moth which looked a bit like a dingy or grizzled skipper but when examined closely showed some some beautiful markings. I also added to my yearly total with a green-veined white butterfly on our way back to the car park. 



male beautiful demoiselle

green veined white butterfly

Mother shipton moth- note the resemblance to a face on the forewings!

the group looking for green hairstreaks

green hairstreak

dingy skipper

speckled yellow moth

pond  where we saw the newts

slow worm


tiny orange tip caterpillar



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