Jack Harrison wrote:David M:
Prestbury Hill
I used to live near there (Winchcombe) and would be a very convenient stop off on my way back from Haugh Wood Herefordshire where I am going for PB Frts.
It would be very nice to revisit Prestbury and see how is is some 30 years since my last visit. Can you give some pointers for the best spots to look for Dukes?
Dukes also used to occur along the old railway between Andoversford and Bourton-on-the-Water but I think that is now horribly overgrown.
Jack
The four I saw, Jack, were spread across the entire site. They're territorial butterflies though, so if you follow the pathway which runs towards the south of the site and then over the bridleway that is signposted 'Cotswold Way', I feel you'll have a good chance of meeting up with one (I saw 2 along this path). Three of the four Green Hairstreaks I saw were also patrolling this pathway, which is mainly gorse but with shrubby trees like Hawthorn.
PS: If you ARE going to Haugh Wood, may I recommend that you wear long trousers. At the moment, my lower legs are swollen and painful due to the sustained assault suffered as a result of the huge numbers of flies in the wood right now. If you want to wear shorts, crush a couple of garlic cloves and spread the juice on your legs before departing (which I sincerely wish I'd done yesterday morning).
Follow the south butterfly trail from the signposted car park and look out for information board 6, which features Pearl Bordered Fritillary (1.5 - 2 mile walk, but not too steep). As you are standing before this board, there's a track which goes right. Follow this track and you'll see the woodland open out somewhat into scrubby banks with bluebells growing on them. This is the best part of the wood. You should find Wood Whites and the odd PBF. Just after this, where the track veers right then immediately left, there's a gully on your right with dandelions and bugle growing near the path which is in direct sunlight. This is the hotspot. Stay tight and just look up the banking and you'll see sizeable numbers (I'll be posting my pics tomorrow with a shot of the area where they can be found).