May 18th 2014 - Part 2
Sheepleas is a site in Surrey that I had read a lot about from the local branch magazine. It is located just past West Horsley, between Leatherhead and Guildford on the A243. It contains a nettle meadow, which the branch had been trying to make a second reserve (the first being Oaken Wood, in Chiddingfold Forest), in which a lot of Nymphalids breed. The nettle meadow is just one field in a wider complex of meadows and woodland, each with its own fauna. It sounded delightful.
The nettle meadow is the light green square, top left.
![20140518_152429.jpg (810.56 KiB) Viewed 621 times Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014](./files/thumb_6364_e408f46c5f68691ac159767277cd514d)
- Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014
On the way into the meadow, there was a fresh Speckled Wood dancing in the dappled sunlight.
![20140518_140504.jpg (944.41 KiB) Viewed 621 times Speckled Wood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014](./files/thumb_6364_e01aeea86e29d72559847e401ffd4183)
- Speckled Wood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014
![20140518_140723.jpg (877.67 KiB) Viewed 621 times Speckled Wood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014](./files/thumb_6364_7fa721d3abfc5e65497bd5bdfcb49189)
- Speckled Wood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014
![20140518_140748.jpg (978.87 KiB) Viewed 621 times Speckled Wood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014](./files/thumb_6364_98fb152a2c6f6cb7fdb77b89ff008bf3)
- Speckled Wood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014
It was a lovely site, bordered by a hedge on one side and woodland on the other three. Each corner was wild and the middle was full of grass and nettles.
![20140518_141922.jpg (1.06 MiB) Viewed 621 times Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014](./files/thumb_6364_6c1c76891b93e3d84be8cc90c0f4b3cc)
- Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014
I only saw one Nymphalid in the nettle meadow in the end, a battered Small Tortoiseshell. However, in the adjacent Cowslip Meadow I had a lovely surprise - a freshly emerged Comma guarding one corner. 18th May was early for a summer brood but not unprecedented. It turned out Small Tortoiseshell and Comma had already been reported for a few days.
![20140518_151011.jpg (859.7 KiB) Viewed 621 times Comma, summer brood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014](./files/thumb_6364_f72dd714b7db68e9afaa8128ba7f60a0)
- Comma, summer brood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014
![20140518_151102.jpg (976.7 KiB) Viewed 621 times Comma, summer brood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014](./files/thumb_6364_963faaa075660a80b1ca6b25a3ca6d78)
- Comma, summer brood, Sheepleas, Surrey, 18th May 2014
To butterfly meadows, chalk downlands and leafy glades; to summers eternal.