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| 2007 Butterfly Season Review by Debbie Hibbitt and Steven Cheshire |
Despite not being able to predict the weather from one day to the next, 2007 was a reasonably good
year for butterfly-spotting and photography and hopefully the details of our visits
below will inspire you to spread your wings and visit
some of these wonderful places.
April 2007
Our expeditions on the search for butterflies commenced in April when we visited the Wyre Forest
in search of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary. We had been on a preliminary visit some
weeks previously so we had a good idea where to head for - the nature reserve at
Dowles Brook. This is managed by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and has a mixture of
grassy meadows and open woodland and it wasn’t long before we saw our first Pearl-bordered
Fritillary in one of the meadows. We managed to time our visit just right
both in terms of the weather - a mixture of sunshine and cloud cover which enabled
us to find the fritillaries whilst flying in the sunshine and then photograph them when
they settled during the cloudy spells.
The Wyre Forest is a great place to visit with its variety of habitats and is an excellent place for butterflies
throughout the year.
May 2007
In May we returned to Prestbury Hill to see the
Duke of Burgundy and Small Blue although we didn’t see as many this year in
comparison with last year. Prestbury Hill is a great place to visit with its fantastic views up to
Cleeve Hill common, over Cheltenham and Gloucester and towards the Severn Estuary
in the far distance.
Also in May, the Ryton Wood Meadows Butterfly Conservation
Reserve Official Opening Ceremony took place on the second Bank Holiday Monday.
Unfortunately the weather was very unkind and provided those attending with non-stop rain for
practically the whole day. In true British fashion however, about 30 people turned out
along with Dr Martin Warren from Butterfly Conservation to officially open the reserve. We trudged around
the reserve on the guided walk with Mike Slater despite persistent rain and managed
to find a Dingy and Grizzled Skipper.
June 2007
June saw our return to Glapthorn Cow Pastures in search of the Black
Hairstreak. We visited on
3 June and saw absolutely nothing, then on 24 June the Warwickshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation had a guided walk
planned there. Unfortunately once again, the gods prevailed and we drove the whole
way in heavy rain. After about half an hour it was declared match abandoned
so the party checked out the tea shop in the nearby
village of Oundle. The
rain did stop - briefly. So we decided to go and have a walk around Glapthorn anyway
but it was fruitless as everything was so wet - although believe it or not we did see
one Black Hairstreak sheltering right down in the grass. The rain abated again briefly
so we decided to go down the road to Fermyn Woods for a lunch stop and a walk as
some of the party had never been there before. Once again, the minute we started
walking the heavens opened so this too was declared a washout - I can’t remember the
last time I was back home on a Sunday afternoon in daylight hours at 3pm in June!
In between the two unsuccessful visits to Glapthorn, on 17 June we attended the
Warwickshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation 10th Anniversary butterfly walk at Collard Hill, Somerset in search of the Large
Blue. This time we had warm sunshine and the 3 hour trip down there was well worth
it as we did manage to see and photograph several Large Blues. On the day we visited
though, it was swarming with photographers and even people with movie cameras and paparazzi-style
photographers with very few manners and etiquette! However, as it is the only public
place in Britain where Large Blues can be seen, it is worth a visit. We did a detour on
the way back via Daneway Banks near Cirencester where we found a few Marbled Whites. As the clouds arrived and we were persistently plagued by Clegs, we decided to called it a day (a long day!)
Also in June we had a long weekend in Norfolk - to see the
Swallowtails as we had timed it a bit too early last year. Our visit did coincide however
with a Swallowtail Day at the Catfield Fen RSPB reserve and a Swallowtail walk at
the Ted Ellis Nature Reserve at Wheatfen Broad, neither of which we had visited
the previous year. Unfortunately day one started off with flooding and a horrendous
thunder and lightning storm in Norwich, and the remaining 3 days, although dry, were
not particularly warm and very grey and cloudy. Catfield Fen was therefore a no show
for the Swallowtails but after a mile-long walk through the Ted Ellis Reserve we did
see one that someone had managed to find in the reeds, and we had a brief glimpse
of one flying and settling on a yellow Iris during the 5 minutes of sunshine that we did have.
Hopefully it will be third time lucky when we get round to visiting Norfolk again.
July 2007
July proved to be a lot more successful when one hot sunny Sunday we visited Fermyn
Wood in Northamptonshire for Purple Emperor. Fermyn Wood
is also a very popular site for the “paparazzi” although all the people we encountered
that day were helping each other to find the butterflies and politely taking it in turns to
photograph them. We continued through and out of Fermyn Wood and into Souther
Wood where it was quieter to try our luck there for more Purple Emperor. We got
slightly lost and were contemplating which way to go next when a lovely fresh male
fluttered down from the trees and settled for a good half
hour under our noses in the middle of the ride
and was very co-operative - I wish they would
settle on some pretty sweet-smelling flowers
though and not choose the by-products of
our canine friends for their dietary requirements!
The highlight this year was our main holiday in
July when we had a cottage for a week between
Carnforth and Kendal, close to the river Kent
estuary. We visited several Cumbria Wildlife Trust
Reserves in the Morecambe Bay area including
Arnside Knott, Whitbarrow Scar, Howe Ridding
Wood, Meathop Moss, Humphrey Head,
Hutton Roof Crags and Smardale Gill. We saw
an abundance of Dark Green Fritillary, and
also found the High Brown Fritillary. We had sightings of Large Heath, Northern Brown Argus and Scotch Argus plus many more species.
Whilst the rest of the country was suffering from lousy weather and severe flooding at the end
of the week, we had plenty of warm sunshine and fantastic views across Morecambe
Bay and the Lake District from Arnside Knott and Whitbarrow Scar. We also hiked up
Fleetwith Pike in search of the Mountain Ringlet but we were too late - we’ve since
discovered that it is pretty much impossible to do both Mountain Ringlet and Scotch
Argus unless you have a month or so to spare up there. We managed a total of 27
species of butterfly during our week in the Lakes along with sightings of lots of other wildlife
- we were certainly able to see why Cumbria was recently voted the best County for wildlife in the BBC Wildlife magazine. Morecambe Bay and the southern peninsulas
of the Lake District are definitely to be recommended for a holiday and are not as
crowded and popular as the main Lakeland towns and fells.
August 2007
In August we went to
Bernwood Forest and Meadows in
Buckinghamshire to look for Brown Hairstreak.
We saw a couple of hairstreaks, a very tatty
Purple Emperor and a large amount of
Brimstones. With the meadows as well, it is
a good site for a variety of butterflies so we
will probably visit again earlier in the Summer
months next year for White Admiral and
Marbled White. We visited Aston Rowant again
and saw good numbers of Silver-spotted
Skipper and a few Chalkhill Blue although
unfortunately it clouded over so our visit there was
cut a bit short.
September 2007
A Warwickshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation guided walk was organised for the afternoon
of 2nd September to Grafton Wood in Worcestershire. The target species being the Brown Hairstreak. We have
visited this site on numerous occasions in the past and we are still trying to time it perfectly for an
abundance of sunshine and hairstreaks so we arrived mid-morning to make the most
of it. The sun shone intermittently during the morning and we were fortunate to see 7
Brown Hairstreaks although photographing them proved very difficult as it was quite
windy. We met up with a few members of
the West Midlands branch who were having a walk that morning as well and they too
were able to see a few. Unfortunately by the time everyone from the Warwickshire branch arrived it
had clouded over so when we walked back down to the wood again it was a zero result
which was a shame for the others. I’m still not sure whether they believe us that we
saw 7 that morning - luckily we have a few photos that weren’t too blurred to prove it!
October 2007
In October we had a last-minute long weekend in Cornwall and thanks to four days of
warm sunshine there were still plenty of Peacocks, Red Admirals, Small Coppers
and Small Tortoiseshells flying on the coast. Unfortunately despite keeping our
eyes peeled we didn’t manage to see any
Clouded Yellows though.
Conclusion
2007 was full of surprises, most notably
the weather! Who would have thought that we
would have needed suntan cream in April, but
wellington boots and waterproofs in the middle
of June? It has certainly made us think more
about the effects of climate change on the
British Isles and has left us wondering what
is to come for next year and beyond and how the strange weather patterns will effect our butterflies.
Debbie Hibbitt and Steven Cheshire |
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