Bentley Wood 14-07-2019
After the constant grey the day before I awoke, unsurprisingly, to a lighter sky with blue sky poking through. As the morning progressed and I got stuck into all of the chores which I could have done yesterday the weather got better and better and the sunny spells grew longer and longer. The weather forecast had drastically changed from first thing as well and while I sorted the rubbish and recycling the sun burnt through my T-shirt and the sweat beads prickled on my forehead I resolved to try my luck for a final time at Bentley.
Once on site I started off down the track chatting on the way with a couple that had left the car park at the same time as me. It was surprisingly quiet on the way down the main track with only the occasional Purple Hairstreak flitting up high and a Red Admiral dipping in out of view as it flew amid the fronds of the Bracken. Down at the Crossroads I turned left and made my way towards Donkey Copse again employing the shambling crook necked gait for Purple Emperor searching. The usual species criss-crossed the track or flew along the wood margins on the journey down including a few Silver-washed and a couple of Peacocks which brightened up the palette of browns and sandy gold colours which are prevalent in mid-summer. At the corner I ignored the grassed left hand track and hung about chatting with a fellow enthusiast who had set up shop here. As we chatted a bat like butterfly flew by, it did a couple of circuits around eventually veering off high in the canopy from whence it didn’t return. There was a similar story at Donkey Copse itself when I reached there – another enthusiast, some more chat but this time no Purple Emperor.
I carried on to the end and while I wandered the trackway as it became enclosed by the overhanging trees two things happened. First I realised that I’d not taken a single shot the whole time I’d been in the Wood and second I spied an odd looking Silver-washed. As I set to rectify my lack of shots I discovered why the Silver-washed looked so odd – half of its hind wing was missing. So as it perched and fed instead of the minty looking shark fin it was a mismatch of part minty part speckled orange.
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The final stretch of the track was much livelier with a Red Admiral and two Peacocks down on the deck, Silver-washed on either side of the track and a multitude of browns taking up most of the available perch spaces. At the far end I looked through the small tunnel of trees out to the pasture beyond and then I turned about to start back. As I did a little silver butterfly detached itself from somewhere above me and fluttered down alighting on the fronds of Bracken. It was a cracking looking Purple Hairstreak. I spent some time with it as it sat looking glorious in the sun. As it shifted position I was able to watch it change colour from a light beige through to silvery grey and I also saw small orange markings on the rear end of the fore wing; markings that I wasn’t aware of before. Also while shifting position it flicked its proboscis out as if scenting or more correctly, tasting, the air. After a few steps and various tongue wagging it seemed to find what it was looking for – a bit of bird dropping which it started to take salts from. It was brilliant and more than made up for the lack of shots of His Nibbs.
![DSC_1408 - Copy.JPG (1.96 MiB) Viewed 1702 times Hhhmmm that looks good...](./files/thumb_9821_19f34d5cb3e02f4154bb4119695983fd)
- Hhhmmm that looks good...
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- Almost there...
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- Almost there...
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- Yum!
The journey back to Donkey Copse was filled with pretty much similar fare as the journey from though it was nice to find a pair of Hedgies posing for a photo. Back at the Copse the pair of chaps I’d met earlier were both waiting and staring up so I settled down and waited here for a bit. Purps kept fluttering about up high and there were various Silver-washed, the odd Peacock and an interesting looking Meadow Brown as well as a Hutch to stave away the boredom of staring into the trees looking for any movement.
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Eventually we decide to try back on the corner to see if His Nibbs has decided to play ball and so having become a group of four with another chap joining us, we start off. We hadn’t gone far when a PE flies high, the striped markings and bat like shape making it stand out from the smaller, thinner winged White Admiral that was also scything through the air nearby. After a couple of fly-bys he disappears off further into the wood along a ride that had the look of having been forgotten. Back at the corner as I’m enjoying the 2 Peacocks and Silver-washed that were bedecking the log pile the group fragments; the late comer heads off, his first Purple Emperor seen, the original well met bloke to departs for the car park to brew up some fresh coffee leaving myself and contestant number 2 scanning the canopy and awaiting another possible appearance of His Nibbs. Shortly this occurred with the butterfly again stubbornly remaining up high. The frustration was starting to wash off on the other butterflies as well I felt as a Purp drifts down and lands too far away for my lens in the middle of a Bramble.
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I say my goodbyes and start the walk back stopping now and then for this and that including a Small Skipper and another Purp down. This one partially opened up but the light could only manage to catch a single purple scale showing up as a blue dot on the forewing. At one point I thought that my luck had finally changed but the butterfly that landed down on the deck was too dark and turned out to be a Peacock. So all too soon I was back, in the car and heading for home…
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So not a vintage year – yes I saw them but it would be better if the weather reports were more accurate…Last weekend the Saturday was supposed to be the worst day and was perfect but I couldn’t go and Sunday was supposed to be perfect but was cloudy all day! Then this weekend I went on Saturday and they got it right – as it clouded over at exactly the time they said it would curtailing activities and then today it was supposed to be cloudy all day only it wasn’t - it was fantastic! I came away having discussed a few methods to ensure some grounded Emperor shots including:
1. Set up camp on a stretch of the main car park and remain until my memory card is full.
2. Drag along a complete novice that has no interest in butterflies whatsoever, in fact someone that has never even heard of a Purple Emperor, and then send them down the track a few paces ahead of me. Then when His Nibbs visits them I can nip and clickity click job done!
3. Give up on Bentley and replace one of my other big trips with one to Botany Bay instead!
Have a goodun
Wurzel