SSSI near Hatch Hill

[eccles]

I've been looking in vain for brown hairstreak in Somerset recently, which prompted three visits to the Polden Hills area.
There are several interconnected reserves here, of which Collard Hill is probably the most well known because of the introduced population of large blue.
I visited Collard Hill, also Gilling Down, Great Breach Wood, Tannager and New Hill but none was as breathtaking as an unnamed site adjacent to Hatch Hill. There are two large fields which connect to a third steep hillside with a wide track leading down to the valley below, edged with woodland. The two large fields were a mass of wildflowers and corresponding meadow butterflies. A good population of chalkhill blue and dozens of clouded yellow, including three helice form, were accompanied by all the more common butterflies. Looking down the valley in afternoon sunshine I could see hundreds of migrant hawker dragonflies with the sunlight reflecting off their wings.
A second visit on Monday 28th August was marred by windy and cool conditions and the clouded yellows had all gone except for a single individual. Chalkhills were still there though, as were second brood small heath.
Access is from Reynalds Way, near Street, by a single gate that is marked only with a green SSSI plaque and a note that it is permitted access. OS grid: ST499335.