So many butterflies are on the wing in June, it's sometimes hard to know which species to look for first. I had it in mind to visit Ravensroost Wood to see if I could find any White Admirals or Silver washed fritillaries, but then my phone showed a notification saying that Large Blues had been seen at Daneway banks near Cirencester. Large blues are rare, and were introduced successfully at this location ten to fifteen years ago and this remains one of the few places where you can find them, Now I know from experience that Large Blue butterflies don't like the sun too much so if they settle they tend to keep their wings closed. So I needed a mix of sun and cloud, so that the sun would cause them to fly, and the cloud would encourage them to settle with open wings. It was still fairly sunny as I finished work at lunch time but with some cloud cover forecast for the afternoon, so I drove the 35 minute journey over to Daneway banks where there were thankfully still several parking spaces left in the layby at the bottom of the hill. On the way to the reserve, I met one or two visitors who said they either hadn't seen any or had just had a possible brief glimpse of one. Oh dear! Maybe I'd picked a wrong day. However, I remained optimistic as yesterday's report said six butterflies were seen so surely they must still be around somewhere!
The first butterfly I saw was a large orange butterfly which almost flew straight at me - it stopped to rest briefly on a number plate of a car parked in the gateway and I saw that it was a silver washed fritillary! Not what I was expecting, but possibly had flown over from the woods opposite. Well that was one tick for the year anyway.
I walked slowly through the reserve, which I've visited many times before, and s a potted numerous marbled whites, and a few small heaths, ringlets, meadow browns and painted lady. Eventually I reached the far corner, where a number of people seemed to be congregating. Yes - a blue butterfly was fluttering around and settled on some thyme - a large blue! I do like this pretty butterfly - a gorgeous wedgwood blue in colour with black markings. It stopped long enough for a quick photo before flying back and over the hillside behind. After a short wait, another one was spotted but didn't rest. A couple of other blues further away caught my eye, but when I went to investigate they turned out to be common blues.
Without having any further sightings, I decided to take a narrow path up the hillside and just before it came to the top, spotted another three large blues which I was pleased about. They did just about open their wings, but I couldn't get in position for a decent photo so had to be content with record shots. As I returned downhill, the sun had gone in, and so had the butterflies. It seems I had made the trip just in time today, though doubtless the next couple of weeks will prove good for them, and delight a good number of visitors.
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