Thanks
Wurzel, good to hear they are doing well over at Bentley, at least for this year anyway.
Thanks
David, sadly it’s not all good news for them, at the other Sussex sites they were out in ‘modest’ numbers at best. It was only at this one small site that they could be considered as having a good year, Neil and I think it is most likely due to its aspect protecting it from the worst of the summer sun.
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May 2023
Saturday 27th. Over the winter whilst researching new sites to explore I discovered a website that maps every footpath in the UK and whilst browsing this I found an easy route to Battlesbury Hillfort from Warminster. The Marsh Fritillaries in their western strongholds provide a much better experience than the handful of inbred individuals that are clinging on at some of their unauthorised release sites more local to me so it’s a no brainer as to where to get my fix! An early start got me to Warminster at 10 and I was on site by 10.30 with things already warming up. As well as the main target, there was plenty more to enjoy and as often happens with me, I took several hundred pictures so the day will be split into two, saving the Marshies for the next post.
The first butterfly I found was my first Adonis of the year.
Dingies popped up regularly as I perused the Hillfort, a Forester Moth posed nicely, and a rather nice female Common Blue proved irresistible.
By far the most numerous lepidoptera of the day was the 5-spot Burnet. Based on the time of year I suspect these are the rarer
Zygaena trifolii. Because of the numerous other targets, I didn’t pay them much attention, except for this individual, a form
minoides where all the red spots merge into one irregular blob.
Walls popped up here and there but their main stronghold (at least the males) was the sun-baked path around the ridge of the hillfort where more Adonis also held court.
My plan for the day was to walk across the various bronze age Hillforts to Cotley Hill and back. There was very little on Middle Hill save for a handful of hyperactive Small Heath at the top.
There was a bit more variety at Scratchbury Hillfort but still nothing like the abundance of Battlesbury.
The walk to Cotley, which was obviously quite slow and meandering, only took about an hour and half and with the stunning scenery was anything but a chore, even with some quite large hills to navigate under a hot sun and cloudless sky. It was the usual selection at Cotley and pretty much the same as I’d found at Battlesbury, unsurprisingly. As with many places this year, Grizzled Skippers were rather scarce, the nicest one I found was licking the path down towards where you park if you haven’t walked all the way!
On the return walk I was distracted by some Kites getting too close to the local Lapwings who were giving them a hard time whenever they floated over their field
Probably about 50% of the pictures taken were of the Marsh Fritillary so I'll be sifting through them for the next post
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