Friday 28 June 2019

A Butterfly day

Another sunny day, 24°, light E.

A walk alongside the Bunk line from Church road to the bypass.

Butterflies were the order of the day with literally hundreds of Meadow Brown on the wing today. They were everywhere.

Another 8 Painted Lady seen with some looking very tatty after a presumably long flight and ageing.

Best one of the day was a single Silver-washed Fritillary seen flying around a large garden before disappearing from view.

Good numbers of Marbled White all along the route.

Other species noted were: Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Brimstone (1), Brown Argus (3), Common Blue (8), Red Admiral (6), Small Tortoiseshell (c20), Comma (3), Speckled Wood (2), Ringlet (12) and Small Heath (2).

Some thistles were in flower on the edge of a bean field and these held the majority of Painted Lady, Small Tort and Marbled White.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle (M&F), Large Red Damselfly and Southern Hawker.

Moths: Cinnabar Moth.

A few birds noted were, 3 Yellowhammer, a single Reed Bunting and 2 Common Whitethroat.

Surprisingly I found 2 Pyramid Orchid growing in one of the conservation strips by the side of one of the fields. Sadly almost devoid of any other flowers.

Maybe farmers should be encouraged to plant wild flowers on these strips?

On the down side there were very few Bees noted…..just a handful!

Painted Lady
 Large Skipper
 Ringlet
 Large Skipper
 Painted Lady
 Small Tortoiseshell
 Small Heath
 Meadow Brown & Marbled White
Comma
Banded Demoiselle (M)

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