a bit late, but my proper write-up from yesterday
Sunday 24th July 2011 – Oxfordshire again..Bernwood Meadows / Bernwood Forest / Whitecross Green Wood
Seeing as we’d missed the emergence of our beloved Purple Emperors in early July and with the forecast looking good for Sunday we decided to go to Oxfordshire again – maybe we would see the last of the female Emperors, or if not, the start of the Brown Hairstreaks. We arrived at about 9:30 am and were greeted by sunny skies as the few pieces of morning cloud were just clearing. Bernwood Meadows was now looking a bit dry, and there were several Small Skippers, Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites and Gatekeepers to greet us as we walked through the meadow. We had agreed to meet Lee Hurrell, so as soon as we finished surveying the Blackthorn in the meadow we briefly checked the walk from the meadows to the Bernwood Forest car-park. The ride just behind the meadow proved one of the best spots of the morning, as there were several new-looking Silver-washed Fritillaries, a few stray Purple Hairstreaks and a couple of White Admirals nectaring on the few slightly tatty bramble flowers above the hedges bordering the meadows.
Walking via the ride to the car-park in the forest there were still plenty of Ringlets and Small and Large Skippers plus the usual assortment of Speckled Woods and Large, GV and Small Whites. On the thistles near the Car-Park there were more of the Silver-Washed Fritillaries and plenty of Commas, Red Admirals and Peacocks, all looking happy too see some warm temperatures again
. We hoped there might be some Purple-Emperors on the main path but there were none, though there were plenty of Purple Hairstreaks on the Oaks above the car-park. Venturing back to the Meadow again we saw a lot more of the Purple Hairstreaks in the Oaks just behind the corner of the meadow.
By this point we met up with Lee Hurrell in the long strip of field next to the Bernwood Meadow car-park. He had enthusiastically texted us to say that he had seen a ‘fly-by’ from a Female Purple Emperor – lucky b*****er
! As this long strip of field had yielded Lee some Brown Hairstreak sightings in the previous years, we spent some time there, finding several other species in the field such as Brown Argus and a few Small Coppers (plus several small and large Dragonflies). There seemed to be several male Purple Hairstreaks venturing into the edge of the field via some Rowan Ash. Right at the end of the thin field we found a marvellous (slightly straggly) Hawthorn bush that (perhaps surprisingly) was home to a very large and boisterous colony of Purple Hairstreaks: in fact, we found it a bit difficult to adjust to quite how many were in this bush as we tried to get some good photos. Then we saw another view of the ‘fly-by’ Purple Emperor that seemed to be making for the next field.
After a long chat whilst watching the Purple Hairstreaks we returned through the meadow to the forest. As we passed into the further field I spotted our first (and only) Brown Hairstreak, freshly hatched and sunning itself just above head-height on the Blackthorn. Both Lee and I took a few quick photos and then the male was gone up into the Oak. He certainly was a beautiful specimen though.
Passing through the ride in the forest we saw several very fresh Brimstones nectaring on Betony flowers. These were quite slow and clearly more interested in the flowers than us, giving us great views. By now we were nearing about 3pm and the sun was still very warm, so we visited Whitecross Green Wood for a couple of hours – as Lee had never been to WGW before. As nice as the Wood was, there was no sign of any more Brown Hairstreaks (perhaps surprisingly) though there were plenty more of the nectaring Brimstone butterflies, along with some lovely Nyphalids and a few new Common Blues as well. By the time we got back to the WGW car park it was just after 5pm and still very warm: we were all quite tired and I had possibly been in the sun too long
! We said our adieus and headed back to our respective homes...though we all agreed it had been a lovely day, with some great butterflies and excellent company.
Michael
There were still plenty of Ringlets at Bernwood Forest.
Also, many beautiful (fresh) Peacocks, Commas and Red-Admirals nectaring near the Forest car-park.
There were plenty of Silver-Washed Fritillaries - I counted about 20 in the forest. Some were still quite new, and some a bit tatty!
There were Brown Argus, Small Coppers, Marbled Whites, Small Skippers and Meadow Browns in the Bernwood Meadows.
Our first 'near' views of Purple Hairstreaks were bordering the road from the long meadow by the car-park.
I thought I'd add this one - yeuch
he seems to be licking the branch...
The Hawthorn right at the end of the long Bernwood Meadows field - this had dozens of Purple Hairstreaks on it!
No great pictures, but it was a lovely spot to stop.
More of that male 'kissing/fighting' behaviour that didn't need an acorn as an object of desire. Spot the 3rd PH in the upper left corner.
The one Brown Hairstreak of our visit. Sorry, I thought it was worth posting again..
After seeing the Brown Hairstreak in the meadow, we went back to the forest car-park where there were plenty of Brimstones.
We finished our day at Whitecross Green Wood. Again the Brimstones (this one a female) were keen on the Betony flowers.
. Though now I realise I only had about 21 species sightings next to David's count for the day, I feel slightly short-changed... 
, and as we chatted we saw a Holly Blue fly by as well as a solitary Purple Hairstreak.
