Thanks
Wurzel, I reckon that end of day total image count is a record for me, I did manage to whittle it down to just a mere 270 though
Thanks
David, it looks like I was a few shots shy of 400 pictures of those Heaths by the time I left Hockley
5th June
Another day out, this time somewhere new for me, the 'legendary' Wrecclesham. After hearing about it for so long I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about and see if the Glanvilles were still on the wing.
Millerds precise directions lead me straight to the unassuming patch of waste ground. It didn’t take long for the target to appear, a slightly aged one fluttering around and feeding on the Bird’s-foot Trefoil in the mostly overcast conditions.
Thinning cloud and sunny spells soon made the trip wholly worthwhile with several more, mostly fresh individuals found, all relatively easy to approach with the regular cloud cover giving me ample opportunities to record the glorious underside
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.
It’s a rather small site with not much variety in the habitat so even with such a scarce insect at my disposal, I’d find it difficult to spend an entire day here. After an hour, with plenty of shots in the bag, it was time to move on and explore the wider area.
Google maps sent me on a few wild goose chases, green spots either clearly marked private or simply impossible to reach but after an half an hour I found a cattle pasture with a style access point next to the river Wey. Lush nettle growth instantly put Small Tortoiseshell in mind here. The sunny spells had all but vanished now and at first all I found was a single Small Heath and an interesting dead tree which to me looked rather like a giant fossilised duck head with antlers and a Triceratops style neck shield.
After not too long though I hit the Small Tortoiseshell jackpot (a sad statement for the state of this species that I get excited whenever I come across this once 'common as muck' species
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), a trio of very fresh emergents plus 3 larval webs, at least four females had concluded this field to be the perfect nursery.
Still with most the afternoon going begging I continued back towards Farnham train station looking for a patch of greenery I’d noticed that morning. A bit of digging on the internet found that it is known locally as Brambleton Park and is an old landfill site that nature has been allowed to reclaim. It was now completely overcast and half an hour’s exploration threw up just three subjects, a Small Copper who had clearly lead a very eventful life, an ovipositing Brown Argus and a Mother Shipton.
It would be very interesting to explore this space in brighter weather, there’s a rich variety of plant-life here so I imagine insect life must surely be as equally as varied. Quite an eventful day all in all and another place to escape the from the big smoke to
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.