I first visited three years ago and saw the usual meadow brown, gatekeeper, speckled wood, common blue and one or two small copper. And it's fair to say that this site really ignited my interest in the beauty of butterflies when I snapped my first marbled white. Having only seen fleeting glimpses of them before, there was a real and thriving colony here. The species has spread from here a mile or so to my local patch and it thrives there also. Indeed last year my local patch had good numbers but Warmley had none, or very few. They're back this year so maybe metapopulations are active in the region.
Anyway, I visited today, and the heathland is looking very promising with many more assorted grasses, clovers, birdsfoot trefoil and common vetch, and tons of greater knapweed. A single small heath spotted there shows the park is beginning to come of age, and the woodland is growing well too. Wide rides are kept clear amongst the woodland to encourage butterflies although the trees are probably not mature enough yet for fritillaries.
Skippers are around too, but I tried once...
I tried a second time.....
... and it was only after a third snap that I actually DIDN'T get an essex skipper:
Interestingly, the two males are very different from each other with the characteristic burnishing of the rear of the wings only apparent on the first shot, but the black tipped antennae are there, albeit in different degrees. The sex brands are definitely not those of small skipper, but again they look different. I wonder if they are established variants of this species? The burnishing/black veining is there on the rather tatty female, but the antennae have a definite orange tip so she is evidently a small skipper.
The park is accessible from the Bristol to Bath cycle track, also from the A420. The entrance is on the right when facing north by the old Warmley station, which is now a café.
