Tremendous day butterfly watching. Arrived at Lower Woods in Gloucestershire at 10.45 and spent approx 5 hours on site. This place is a veritable butterfly paradise. There are dry and marshy meadows, as well as ancient woodland with huge rides and clearings. The two best places were Plumber's Trench and Horton Great Trench, the latter of which is believed to be a right of way that predates the Romans.
These 100 feet+ wide rides were absolutely and literally crawling with insect life and my only regret was that I'm not a general insect specialist, as some of the dragonflies/moths/hornets were of a variety I'd never seen before.
As far as butterfly numbers are concerned, it was (for me) a record breaking day in the sense that I broke my previous best of 13 species in a day and also saw more aggregate numbers than I'd ever seen before.
The location is here:
http://www.gloucestershirewildlifetrust ... penElement
The tally was:
1. Ringlet 300+ (Silly numbers just about everywhere - on the ground, by the hedgerows and in the trees)
2. Meadow Brown 150-250 (not far behind Ringlets, though they were even more abundant in the meadows at the edge of the wood)
3. Silver Washed Fritillary 80-120 (never thought I'd get bored of seeing this species, but they were literally everywhere)
4. Marbled White 25-40 (good numbers in the meadows and a few in the woodland rides)
5. Small Skipper 20-30 (after positively identifying the first 10 as Small rather than Essex Skippers, I recorded all subsequent sightings as Sylvestris)
6. Comma 14
7. Large White 12
8. Speckled Wood 12
9. Large Skipper 9
10. White Admiral 7
11. Green Veined White 6
12. Small Tortoiseshell 3
13. Purple Hairstreak 1
14. Red Admiral 1
Couple of things to comment on:
*SWFs and Commas seem not to like one another. Is it because they're similar from a distance but when they meet they mutually recognise their differences?
*Too many Meadow Browns/Ringlets makes for chaos in the woods - White Admirals and SWFs were constantly harassed by these to the point where observing them settled proved frustrating.
!['s Trench.jpg (139.8 KiB) Viewed 1035 times Plumber's Trench - butterfly heaven](./files/thumb_9162_15d5b83ed0cbddc2adc7e75830a81b4d)
- Plumber's Trench - butterfly heaven
![SWF male.jpg (91.86 KiB) Viewed 1035 times Male SWFs were abundant today](./files/thumb_9162_666d5c1ea8b0e64dc438222ecb204485)
- Male SWFs were abundant today
![SWF female.jpg (99.1 KiB) Viewed 1035 times Female SWFs were scarce but more placid and photo-friendly](./files/thumb_9162_a32b758f06ccd4800679fe82a921f3eb)
- Female SWFs were scarce but more placid and photo-friendly
![Purple Hairstreak.jpg (53.82 KiB) Viewed 1035 times This is where my camera falls short - had to take this Purple Hairstreak from a distance](./files/thumb_9162_56e95fba99af23bf3c295b0ee67efd14)
- This is where my camera falls short - had to take this Purple Hairstreak from a distance
![SWF underside.jpg (93.76 KiB) Viewed 1035 times SWFs everywhere!](./files/thumb_9162_a5d7fcad0444b9d10b7711892789428d)
- SWFs everywhere!
![Small Skipper female.jpg (76.11 KiB) Viewed 1035 times Checking the antennae is becoming an obsession!](./files/thumb_9162_651f46313adb4d6687fcfc2efaed3ac5)
- Checking the antennae is becoming an obsession!
![White Admiral underside.jpg (82.64 KiB) Viewed 1035 times Only two of the seven I saw were within genuine photo reach](./files/thumb_9162_0e863cb49eadc03557f1d8a08c620af0)
- Only two of the seven I saw were within genuine photo reach
![White Admiral.jpg (89.31 KiB) Viewed 1035 times Taken me 42 years to see this species, but it was worth the wait](./files/thumb_9162_24e3167339986780e8385c4c3495f434)
- Taken me 42 years to see this species, but it was worth the wait