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| 2006 Butterfly Season Review by Debbie Hibbitt and Steven Cheshire |
Thanks to the continued effects of global warming, 2006 turned out to be another good year both for butterflies and for our continued quest to photograph more of Britain’s
native butterfly and other wildlife species. Once again fashion statements went out of
the window and we spent most of the year suitably camouflaged in dark shades or green and brown.
April 2006
At the end of April we visited the Butterfly Conservation Reserve at Prestbury Hill, Gloucestershire for the first time to search for the Duke of Burgundy. The intention of this visit
was to familiarise ourselves with the site and location of the colony.
May 2006
We returned to Prestbury Hill at the end of May. On arrival at the site
we were fortunate to meet a fellow enthusiast who had spotted several Dukes
and pointed us in the right direction. Thanks to the appearance of glorious sunshine and
perseverance we eventually found the Dukes which posed long enough in the sunshine
to enable us to photograph them and study them in more detail.
June 2006
A week later in early June we spent 10 days on the Isle of Wight, once again
timed with a specific mission to find the
Glanville Fritillary. We had booked our accommodation on
the West side of the Island to
coincide with the best locations for
these beautiful and scarce butterflies.
On the first evening after our arrival,
we had a walk locally and within half an
hour were rewarded with the sight of
several Glanville Fritillaries enjoying the remainder
of the day’s sunshine prior to roosting
for the evening. Needless to say with
the warmth and light slowly fading on a
glorious summer’s evening they were
more than co-operative for the ensuing
photo-shoot. We were fortunate to see
these beautiful fritillaries on a number
of occasions during our holiday, and
being able to sit in the grass closely
alongside them roosting on grass stems
whilst watching the magnificent sunsets was quite a memorable experience. The weather was also extremely obliging for the whole 10 days of our
holiday allowing us to find Adonis and Small Blues in the West of the Island.
When not staring at the ground hunting for butterflies, we stared skywards instead in
the pine forests in search of the elusive Red Squirrel and we had a couple of sightings
of these “clucking” characters, although unfortunately not close enough to photograph
in detail. In total we saw 24 species of butterfly during our holiday, resulting in a rather large amount of photographs!
July 2006
In July we ventured into Northamptonshire to Glapthorn Cow
Pastures and Fermyn Woods in search of
the Black Hairstreak, White Admiral and
Purple Emperor. It was a very hot day and
the Black Hairstreaks were thin on the
ground but very active so the chase was
abandoned by lunchtime. We continued
to Fermyn Woods in the afternoon and
were fortunate enough to suddenly come
across one Purple Emperor feeding
on sap at the base of a tree.
Keen to find more Purple Emperors, we got up early to visit Fermyn Woods again
two weeks later, which was also another
scorchingly hot day. There were several White Admirals flying and we also discovered a
rather interesting Comma which we later discovered was an aberrant, certainly the first
time we had seen anything quite like it. The Purple Emperors were typically avoiding
us until the moment we sat down under a shady tree for a picnic lunch when a male
flew past and decided to perch hanging upside down from a branch above our heads
in a neighbouring tree. The picnic was hastily abandoned as we grabbed our cameras,
but the little devil blended in so nicely with the tree and was so high above our heads it
proved difficult to see it clearly, never mind photograph it. Although
we did contemplate it, unfortunately our tree-climbing skills are not up to scratch and
his Majesty the Emperor sat happily resting in the shade and was still there a good 2
hours’ later when we walked past again, just as if to taunt us. It was good to view this
attractively-marked butterfly however and has not deterred us from continuing the hunt in 2007!
At the end of July we had a long weekend in Northumberland with the main intention
of visiting the Farne Islands to photograph the nesting seabirds, which we successfully accomplished and was quite spectacular to see. We also visited Holy Island and
searched for the Dark Green Fritillary on the surrounding coast but were unsuccessful having been looking in the wrong place!
The highlight of July was a day trip to Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve
near Aylesbury, Bucks where we and
members of the Warwickshire
Branch Butterfly Conservation a walk led by Frank
Banyard of the Upper Thames Branch.
Despite the noise of the traffic roaring
past on the M40, this grassland reserve
with its colourful flowers proved excellent
for the Silver-spotted Skipper and the Chalkhill Blue.
August 2006
In August we returned to Prestbury Hill in search of the Chalkhill Blue and Small Blue. We did not have as much luck with the Chalkhill Blue in comparison with Aston Rowant
due to the flight season being almost over, however we found a good colony of Small Blue in the second part of the reserve and saw one or two Dark Green Fritillary on patrol.
Conclusion
The Summer came to a close all too quickly as always, but it has certainly been a good experience visiting new places, photographing more different butterflies and crossing
a few more off our wanted list. We too have also started to experience the effects of
climate change, noting much milder temperatures, and the continued appearance
of some of our more common British butterflies such as Red Admirals right until December. It will certainly be interesting to see what 2007 has in store.
Debbie Hibbitt and Steven Cheshire |
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