Cheers Wurzel, I must admit that it sometimes seems to me that someone has at sometime given a name to every slight variation out there. I blame the human condition of trying to fit everything into its own box when in reality nature is more fluid than that.
Thanks David, I usually see a good spread of variation in Green Hairstreaks, from no spots to almost full lines. That one was certainly one of the boldest marked but by no means the only one like it I have seen.
Wednesday 15th May – part 1.
Most of my time off work this year is already booked for various stays in B&Bs around the country as is our now normal habit, but with the good weather forecast for a few days this week I figured on trying to make the most of it and went in to work on Monday and managed to book one of my few remaining floating days holiday for Wednesday. The forecast was bang on for Monday and Tuesday and looked to hold for Wednesday so Tuesday night I weighed up various options to see how I could make the most of the day.
In the end I decided to head down to Gloucestershire and start off the day at Strawberry Banks, a site I had not visited before, and then planned on heading back up to Prestbury Hill. The main reason for heading to Strawberry Banks was for the colony of Marsh Fritillaries which I believe is the closest that this species occurs to home for me and seeing some sightings posted on social media over the previous few days I knew they were on the wing there.
I got up around the same time as I would have done for work which meant that I could make an early start to miss the build-up of traffic around Solihull and by 06.00 I was on my way. Arriving from the north-west, I headed for the village of Oakridge Lynch where a bit of research had showed that I could park up by the church and take a path to the reserve. By 08.00 I was parked up on what was a beautiful morning, even if it was still a bit chilly and after a short walk along a path across a field and through a short wooded stretch attractively bordered with wild garlic I came out onto the reserve itself which consists of two fields. The first area was mostly still in shade cast by trees further up the hill but looking to the second field, half of it was now in the sun and so I began my search there.
For the first hour or so it was still quiet and quite cool with a heavy dew on the long grass and I didn’t spot any butterflies until around 09.00 when I began to see Dingy Skippers which increased in number and activity as it gradually warmed up and the sun spread across the whole site.
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 007 resize.JPG (520.33 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Dingy Skipper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_dde10ec80d5fc95e15962573b4de9947)
- Dingy Skipper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 024 resize.JPG (514.06 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Dingy Skipper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_064d660272b61fd5442ddc495e19e95c)
- Dingy Skipper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
These were soon followed by a single female Common Blue which looked fresh but with a malformed front wing and shortly after by a Small Copper.
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 029 resize.JPG (499.25 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Small Copper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_3c07fbc797bd07b06f55274fdd5e5eae)
- Small Copper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
This cooler hour or so also enabled me to sneak up on some Burnet Companion and Common Heath moths which can be difficult to approach when the temperature gets warmer.
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 039 resize.JPG (526.88 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Burnet Companion - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_25f85c20435c1a49b7b1667868ec46ac)
- Burnet Companion - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 041 resize.JPG (489.91 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Common Heath - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_157608b7f051f9293de7ab0c5278d8a3)
- Common Heath - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
It was 10.00 before I saw the first Marsh Fritillary and over the following hour or so I reckon I saw about half a dozen different individuals. As is often the case it seemed like a few more but photos prove that they were the same ones being seen repeatedly, sometimes a fair distance from a previous sighting and it appears that individuals will roam across the whole site here.
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 051 resize.JPG (565.42 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_2bceb263a4421afef17405cf867a1f41)
- Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 138 resize.JPG (488.92 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_d5c996cfce996dd4eaa5e210728949f4)
- Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 142 resize.JPG (553.69 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_1796c0a9968aea488851745a059d6841)
- Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 167 resize.JPG (514.3 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_af1556b85985ca50c90be6d1310844e3)
- Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 177 resize.JPG (568.89 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_ad566d191a25232023c2828b97752ad5)
- Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
The individual below was a particularly attractive example which I saw quite often as it moved around the reserve.
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 076 resize.JPG (555.22 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_2255dd0c0cabd1bf58ffb2dcefef9492)
- Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 092 resize.JPG (499.22 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_a04105382b23a5448c682a4f866b0ad3)
- Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
Just after 11.00 I decided to make a move and was slowly working my way back across the fields when I spotted a Small Blue scrapping with a Dingy Skipper.
![Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019 164 resize.JPG (480.14 KiB) Viewed 3519 times Small Blue - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019](./files/thumb_10101_7e378f334c264d2d721894428bed075e)
- Small Blue - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019
I am not really into Orchids but I couldn’t help but notice a good variety of different ones dotted about across the site. One day I will have to make the effort to get to know these attractive plants so that I know what I am looking at.
A cracking morning spent at a beautiful little reserve and one which I really should have visited before now. I have seen that the Marsh Fritillary colony here is described as fragile and I am aware that a couple of years ago the population exploded although numbers have fallen again since then as is often the case with this species.
Anyway, by 11.30 I was back at my car and ready to head off up to Prestbury Hill...
Bye for now,
Neil.