South Nottinghamshire is my patch. West Bridgford to be specific. Home of the Trent Bridge Test cricket ground, the (former) National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont, (former) Tory bigwig Ken Clarke, a Marks & Spencers, a few charity shops and... nothing much else.
I moved from Yorkshire to study and then settled in Nottingham - for a youth it had so much more to offer. Great nightlife, music venues, shops, job opportunities... but as a maturing adult the allure has all but vanished.
Nottinghamshire has no RHS gardens, very little National Trust presence, no nature reserves of national import, no dramatic hills or mountains, no coastline, no castles (Nottingham Castle is actually a dull Manor house on a hill), not even any forest to speak of (Robin Hood is spinning in his grave with what's left of Sherwood turned over to CenterParcs.)
Consequently wildlife does not abound. The birds don't sing. The blooms don't have the habitat to flower. And the butterflies don't flit.
Not for me the Wood or Marbled White, any of the many fritillaries, the Wall and Grayling are a thing of the past. Adonis, Chalkhill, Silver-Studded; Blues Small and Large are southern-softies. Purple Emperors, White Admirals, Brown and Black Hairstreaks are nothing but a fanciful notion in a mythical woodland glade. The climate is too dull for our geographical extremists. Even the Large Heath gives Notts a wide berth.
Only 20-odd species exist in Nottinghamshire. Most of these are so common I have seen them in my garden (a tiny 10-by-10 metre square in suburbia). The others are skippers and hairstreaks. Tiny, but viewable, populations of Dingy and Grizzled - and scarcer (I've never seen one) of Green, Purple and White-Letter.
Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places... maybe I live in the wrong place.
My point? Nothing really. But it's good to vent, and I'm glad I got that off my chest...
But... an idea strikes me... late.
Is there a league table for different counties classified by the number of species to be found therein? If there is, is Nottinghamshire at the bottom? Can anyone provide a link?
If there isn't then maybe we should make one. There are plenty of people here - from everywhere - with the requisite knowledge. People from Hampshire, Somerset, Sussex, Dorset, Gloucester, Kent - go on, post up your number. Make me jealous.
Make me sell-up and move.
). Purple hairstreaks? I doubt it, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong. 
) which is supposed to harbour both Green and Purple Hairstreaks - albeit in tiny colonies... but not in my experience it doesn't. 
