Saturday 1st June – The Wyre Forest.
I had promised myself a day out today and after weighing up a couple of options decided to spend it in the Wyre Forest. This is an extensive woodland containing grassland and meadows and at over 500 hectares in area is far too large to cover it all in just one day. This large area also means however that although it is a popular area for visitors it is also very easy to get away from the crowds.
Having been a few times before I headed for the Forestry Commission car park at the end of Dry Mill Lane as I wanted to follow the path along Dowles Brook to look for Peal-bordered Fritillaries in the meadows along there and also in an area along the old railway line which is a good spot for PBFs.
In previous years I had timed my visits here to see fresh Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries which meant that although the PBFs were still flying they were at the end of their flight period and mostly getting a bit tatty. Ironically although my visit today was at roughly the same time, the later season this year meant that the PBFs had not been out so long.
I had aimed to arrive about 10.00am but I forgot what day of the week it was and hit Saturday morning traffic going through Kidderminster and so didn’t get there until nearer 10.30.
Parking up, I started off walking down the old railway line and had only gone a few hundred yards when I saw a couple of chaps looking at something in the vegetation to the side of the path. Going over they showed me a nice Poplar Hawk Moth, possibly just emerged the previous night. That made a good start to the day.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 002resize.JPG (335.45 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Poplar Hawk Moth - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_9321f4f985d42b429bcfaf83445a13b2)
- Poplar Hawk Moth - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
Carrying on to the area previously mentioned I soon saw a few PBFs but they were already warmed up and very mobile in the warm sun. I took a few record shots when they briefly landed and carried on with my wanderings.
Further along I took the path down to Coopers Mill and had a look in a meadow there where I saw a few more PBFs.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 045resize.JPG (414.4 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_156990ba562d16cdfcf8bd0908e77acc)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
I then followed a path up the other side of the hill which I had not been up before and came to an area where the scrub had been cleared back a bit from the path. Along a stretch of a hundred yards or so I saw at least a dozen PBFS. Some cloud had built up by now and I found that the best way to get photos was similar to Orange Tips in that if you could keep one in sight when a cloud covered the sun it would soon settle. Unlike Orange Tips the PBFS would keep their wings open giving you chance to get some shots before the sun came back out and the butterfly would immediately take off again.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 076resize.JPG (447.39 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Wyre Forest - 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_8891c070015f5f93d4f1284088fcf795)
- Wyre Forest - 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 105resize.JPG (406.18 KiB) Viewed 1176 times PBFs along this stretch.](./files/thumb_10101_7c20435ea92ef0c141a1415b8c241e4b)
- PBFs along this stretch.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 079resize.JPG (491.42 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_93cb28291886b179be06e0a4b28c534a)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 095resize.JPG (496.37 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_72e2ea9d44e58440d60cfe9dfd34833a)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 148resize.JPG (404.25 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_bf28af1f334599fb4fe666980a9166b6)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
I also saw the female below flitting about lower down in the bracken laying eggs.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 074resize.JPG (435.45 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary female laying - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_dcedfff52e9b80766121b5b03914b73f)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary female laying - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
There were a number of Green Tiger Beetle along this stretch that seemed to spend as much time flying as on the ground.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 120resize.JPG (472.87 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Green Tiger Beetle - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_cd790f7f638446ab4221e3f334376558)
- Green Tiger Beetle - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
After spending a little time here I went back down the hill and checked another meadow by Coopers Mill finding some more PBFs and a rather worn Brimstone.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 172resize.JPG (355.86 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Brimstone - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_6909888ae47a0c50e1cc3ac7a28ee800)
- Brimstone - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 181resize.JPG (485.14 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillaries - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_a8230cef98bdda5e2339d3fee6e615d8)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillaries - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 209resize.JPG (447.27 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_4c08dad878c29b669f327032f9bf641b)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 218resize.JPG (413.66 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_510bd3b8ba01355d695a806a61590680)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
I then carried on along Dowles Brook and crossed over by Knowles Mill and followed the path up the slope back to the old railway line.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 219resize.JPG (458.56 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Dowles Brook - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_4d10c7a8f24a5529955de88f5894f2fe)
- Dowles Brook - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
I made my way back to the area where I first started and noticed that there were more PBFs about here than earlier, possibly a dozen or more. By this time it was about 50/50 sun and cloud which gave me chance to get some more photos.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 317resize.JPG (433.61 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Area for PBFs by old railway line.](./files/thumb_10101_19dbda7dfe2bd2231664d7274b28388d)
- Area for PBFs by old railway line.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 255resize.JPG (366.07 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_2ee88697754dbc0d593149dd91f3011c)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 274resize.JPG (513.03 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, there are 3 in this shot.](./files/thumb_10101_6d0c6befdf3dac29991f7000ca203e93)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, there are 3 in this shot.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 287resize.JPG (388.99 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_1809a83f97572a3cf64f2772b8319f9e)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 388resize.JPG (478.07 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_1ce4365f62ff755110145d0954cc651f)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 348resize.JPG (408.32 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_fc4e109efa62710c405a5154f513c304)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 385resize.JPG (427.35 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillaries - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_918f09fa99486d0945a7d880e5671939)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillaries - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 418resize.JPG (378.61 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_5fc80828a0fe60f763cea534064e600d)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 426resize.JPG (484.08 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_acc7a715f8a2886b910f669d0d33427a)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
As well as the PBFs seen during my wandering about, I also saw 2 Brimstones, 1 Orange Tip, 3 Peacocks(all rather tatty) and 4 Speckled Wood.
There were also a number of Common Heath Moths and lots of Speckled Yellow Moths about, the latter especially being more flighty that the Pearls and harder to approach.
![Wyre Forest 01.06.2013 427resize.JPG (353.6 KiB) Viewed 1176 times Speckled Yellow Moth - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013](./files/thumb_10101_5d1c4c8e101291545f9b6ad58585c5f6)
- Speckled Yellow Moth - Wyre Forest 01.06.2013
It was a great day that recharged my batteries somewhat
Bye for now,
Neil.