Heather's Nature Notes: BUTTERFLIES IN SHROPSHIRE

Not long ago I was talking to someone about the butterflies I still had to see to complete my UK list of sightings. One of these is the Large Heath and I learned from him that the nearest place I could see them was at a place called Whixall Moss in Shropshire, about 3 hours' drive. As this would be too far for me to drive as a day trip, I decided to make a short break of it, and accordingly booked some air bnb accommodation nearby. A bonus was the fact that another rare butterfly, the silver studded blue can be seen at another reserve close by, although this is a species I have seen regularly each year in Berkshire.

Whilst doing some research I found that the large heath butterfly can be found at two locations in the area, Bettisfield Moss as well as Whixall Moss, so I decided to visit both to give me the best chance of success. These are both peat bogs and I was warned that biting insects can be prevalent! I therefore dressed with long sleeves, despite being a hot day, and sprayed myself liberally with insect repellant,

At Bettisfield there was just one other car in the small car park and I walked up the main path onto the reserve. I had been told that I might find the butterflies along this path, but the ones I did see were flying over the peat bog itself but they were very active and I couldn't really see the markings clearly as they didn't stop!

I decided to try my second location, and parked at Morris' bridge car park right next to the Llangollan canal. You have to go over a lifting bridge to get to the car park, and soon after I got there I saw the bridge being lifted to enable a narrow boat to pass through,

I'd looked at a map of this reserve and took the path from the car park, past a gate and then turned right at a t junction. This led to a wide path between two vast bog areas. I wasn't really sure what to expect a peat bog to look like, but it seemed like a lot of dry grass with a scattering of small trees. However, there were warnings to stay on the path. Again the large heaths were flying in the peat bog area each side of the path, occasionally crossing over but never stopping to settle. I spoke to a lady who said she had seen one or two settle earlier that morning but it certainly seemed unlikely now. After walking up and down the path, I decided to call it a day, and head over to Prees Heath Common to look for my second rarity of the day the silver studded blue.

I'd already located the car parking area on a map so found the spot with little difficulty. I'd been told the butterflies were on the right of the car park, and even when stepping out of the car, I could see a number of figures with cameras This was going to be easy, and it was. There were dozens of silver studded blues, many of them settling regularly, sometimes with open wings and sometimes with closed wings showing their blue 'studs'. I soon found I had plenty of photos to choose from!

Although pleased to have finally seen a large heath butterfly, I really felt I needed a photo to confirm the identity and to add to my album of butterflies, just in case I never had an opportunity to see another one So the following day I got up early and was on the heath by 7.45. am. It was sunny and quite warm and I soon saw skippers flying and thought may be the large heaths would be out early too, However, the bog area proved a lot windier than yesterday, and it even became quite cloudy and a bit cooler and no butterflies appeared. I could see that a break in the cloud cover was imminent so decided to stick it out. Finally my patience paid off, as suddenly two butterflies seemed to appear from nowhere, and started chasing each other before one decided to settle for a few seconds on a piece of grass about 10 feet away. Now was my chance, and I took it! I didn't see them again, but was quite satisfied to get a photo at last.

I now have four more butterflies to find, namely High Brown Fritillary, Northern brown argus,

Mountain ringlet and chequered skipper.