Aston Rowant trip

[Brian Anderson]

Went down to Aston Rowant today. Very over cast and althought the Red Kites performed well early on the butterflies didn't start to show until 10am. Purple Hairstreak, Small Heath, Silver Spotted Skipper, Small Copper, Chalkhill Blue, Brown Argus, Large White, Meadow Brown and Gatekeepers all seen today.

[ChrisC]

love the small copper shot.

Chris

[Brian Anderson]

thanks Chris

[RobS]

i nearly went there myself this weekend.it was a toss up between there and chobham common and in an effort to save fuel i chose the latter.wish i hadnt !!
the wind and rain on sunday put paid to my chances of seeing anything flying apart from the odd gatekeeper.sounds like the weather at aston was a touch better.
cheers

rob

[Brian Anderson]

A bit overcast Rob but dry with some breaks in the cloud. Great place though..went back today for an hour and found the butterflies much more active...silver spotted skippers everywhere..lot's of Blues, A peacock, red admirals, arge whites, Brown Argus, Meadow Browns Gatekeepers...an unidentifed blue which i'm hoping was a holly blue and a single Brimstone.
get down there Rob you won't be dissapointed.

[RobS]

when i think about how many hundreds (perhaps ) of times i have driven through the chalk cut of the M40 and never realised there was such a wonderful haven for butterflies nestling on the hillside beneath the soaring red kites.
if only some of our butterfly species could repeat the success story of that majestic bird .
ill be visiting soon so thanks for the insight into species seen etc.
cheers

rob

[Liz Goodyear]

Went there yesterday for the first time - would highly recommend to anyone.

Nice to just be able to look at butterflies for a change rather than be doing serious recording.

Liz

[Brian Anderson]

It certainly is a good spot spoilt only by the noise of the traffic below the hills.
One issue I have though is whilst there a group arrived to look for the silver spotted skippers and marched all over the hill in their quest.
I'm new to this game but would have thought it'd be quite high on the agenda to look after the habitat but it didn't seem to be of much interest to this group. i'll be going back soon though. Devils Dyke in Newmarket is another nice spot i've discovered recently and is alive with Chalkhills.

[RobS]

i must try devils dyke too sometime.my folks live in bury st edmunds so its on the way.
talking of bury,have you tried bradfield woods.we used to go there loads as kids but now its less wild and managed by the SWT.its such a peaceful place and the rides there are awash with butterflies.when i went last ,in late june,white admiral and purple hairstreak were the highlights,but it was my first proper butterflying trip,so i probably missed loads.
cheers

rob

[David M]

One issue I have though is whilst there a group arrived to look for the silver spotted skippers and marched all over the hill in their quest.

It always looks worse when there's a group, but the same amount of damage would be done by half a dozen separate individuals (assuming the group was 6 strong).

There are lots of narrow pathways all along the hillside and when I was there I tried my best to stick to them. However, butterflies don't observe the rules and fly where they like so there are times when you have to veer off the beaten track to get closer to your target species.

[Gibster]

I've never been to the site, but from what I've heard there are good numbers of sheep up there (seemingly with some sort of digestion problem if the poo stories are to be believed.) Butterfly visitors may well cause trampling issues, but I'm guessing the sheep season is longer than the butterfly-enthusiast season on this site. Surely the sheep trampling and fouling is just as big an issue? But the site owners obviously think the perceived danger is worth the risk, and the wildflower slopes and numbers of SSS bears testament to success of the management regime.

Just to play Devil's Advocate for a moment, trampling can be enormously beneficial at certain sites. Ask any botanist or entomologist. But I'm not saying that having folks wandering willy-nilly across the site is a good thing either...

Cheers,

Gibster.

[Michaeljf]

Hi Gibster,
also - calculate the damage done by a number of 'larger' butterfly enthusiasts as opposed to a group of 'skinny' enthusiasts. There could be an award-winning degree thesis there just waiting for someone to write it..
Michael

[Brian Anderson]

I'll try that site Rob thanks
as for the trampling groups v trampling sheep....you're probably right guys. It just goes against the grain a bit...i'm sitting there enjoying what comes my way and then twenty plus people turn up and start stomping all over the patch. And yes there's a good bit of sheep poo to contend with but it's worth it. I'm sure thet group had a good time anyway without really paying any attention to me and i guess you could have a point that it may benefit the site. Anyway if you go enjoy it and keep an eye open for those red kites.