Went to Bookham Commons yesterday in the hope of seeing my first Brown Hairstreak of the year. Thankfully the good weather day was on Saturday rather than Sunday as it would've been difficult to do anything due to the road closures for the cycle race (contrary to the media hype not everyone welcomes this event).
At the downside end of the commons I was quickly into my searching and enjoying the familiar flora and fauna which was in stark contrast to that of searching the arid rocky terrain that is South Tenerife. A report on my holiday to the canaries will follow later in the year (still have masses of pictures to sort and not enough hard drive space to accommodate them).
Despite ideal weather conditions and an extensive search I didn't get a sniff of a Brostreak (have let the side down sorry David
). Plenty of the usual suspects - and the unusual with a Clouded Yellow in the overgrown meadow area across from Nightingale corner
. As is often with Cloudies it moved fast and didn't stop
.
First butterfly encountered was a lovely Red Admiral, something I've not seen much of this year
.
Other butterflies seen were lots of False Hairstreaks (Gatekeepers); Meadow Browns; Speckled Wood and the three Whites. A solitary Comma and male Silver-washed Fritillary put in an appearance too.
In one 4 hour visit to Bookham I have managed to see more species of butterfly than I had in my two weeks in Tenerife.
Species seen:- LWt; SWt; GvWt; CY; MB; Gk; SWF; RA; Cm; SWd; CB; SSk and Peacock.
Moving on to Denbies in the late afternoon ... and the cloud cover had become a bit more extensive
. I made my way over to the paddock on the LH side of Steers Field specifically to see Silver-spotted Skippers. Up until then I had not seen any Chalkhill Blues (being out of the country during their emergence) or second generation Adonis, but counted on them being in this area. The entrance to the paddock was a bit of an eye opener with the vegetation flattened and cow dung everywhere
. It was being grazed by at least 12 Belted Galloway cattle. I understand this is to keep the scrub in check but a dozen seems excessive to me
.
Despite the trampled/trashed appearance there were butterflies about - not in any great number but there nevertheless
. A fresh male Chalky put in an appearance and sheltered low in the grasses out of the wind whipping up the hillside. In the moments when the wind died down sun peeped out from the clouds I was able to trace a couple of Silver-spots, but these were difficult to photo. Unfortunately I didn't see any Adonis.
On the way home I followed up a lead on Sheepleas which is a mixture of woodland, scrub and open grassland and is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust (Denbies by the National Trust). I was pleasantly surpised just how pristine the meadows were in comparison to Denbies. As it was starting to get late I did a quick tour of the wildflower meadows. Will definitely explore this area again
.
Phil
) and almost hit me in the head before soaring over the near trees and away
