Usually, when I have a free Saturday I use the opportunity to drive a bit further afield to see birds or butterflies. However with no additional butterfly species still to find, and no bird rarities that I wished to travel a distance to see, I decided to follow up a local sighting record for a range of butterflies at Somerford Common, especially as a dozen or more clouded yellows had been noted, including two 'helice' forms of the latter.
As the temperature began to rise mid morning I drove over to this reserve owned by Forestry England and joined a couple of cars in the small carpark. The area consists of mainly oak and beech woodland criss-crossed by a number of paths and is known for its butterflies and birds although I admit I rarely visit as often as I could.
The path from the carpark leads uphill along a deeply rutted track which can often become very muddy. However, after a dry summer, this was hard baked with cracks in it. As the track meets a crossroads of paths, I started to see butterflies, firstly a common blue and a small white, followed by a clouded yellow. Taking the path straight ahead I found another clouded yellow, together with brown argus ( fresh) some whites, comma and brimstone. At one place I could see four clouded yellows in close proximity, each nectarring on the plentiful scabious flower heads.
I spent the next hour or so, exploring different paths; clouded yellows ( 12) were the easiest to find, owing to their bright golden yellow colouring but I also found painted lady (3), comma (3) red admiral (1) brimstone (1) small copper (1), speckled wood (2) brown argus (8) common blue (4) green veined white (2) small white (2) large white (2) . (Numbers in brackets are minimum seen). After taking many photos, especially of clouded yellows, I decided to stay a little longer to look out for a 'helice' form of the clouded yellow which I had never seen before but had been recorded here. This is a rarer paler version of the female butterfly which sometimes occurs. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when one did appear, which was interesting to compare with the usual form; as both colour versions flew together, the 'whiter' form was clear to see, but impossible to photograph in flight!
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