Another Saturday with no coaching duties, and with the weather forecast for hot and sunny, I decided to try to pick up two of the closest missing species from my Butterfly list, the Wood white and Pear Bordered Fritillary, up at Haugh Woods near Hereford. As I was heading that way I decided to try my luck with the Nightingales at Higham Woods.
Arriving at Higham just after 6am (I know, I was a bit lazy as first light is around 4am), it didn't take long for the first Nightingale to be heard, but no chance of seeing it. A bit further round the path and a third bird (I passed a second singing male that was never going to be seen) that offered hope as it was singing from low, Hazel, not far off the path and no big bushes in between. It still took about 15 mins of patient scanning and moving a step to the side and scanning again before I noticed somthing that appeared to big to be a stem on the Hazel. Sure enough, soon as it starting singing again, I could see it move. The view was crap, a bit of mantle and nape, but the movement syncing with the singing confirmed it was the bird. It then turned its head, giving a great profile view. Nice.. I counted 6-7 singing males in total, but only got the visual on one.
It was then over to Haugh Woods - a new site for me. A quick coffee and then off round the Northern Butterfly walk. 5 mins in and a White appeared - dam, a Green-viened. This was quickly followed by a second G-v. Carrying on, a Hornet buzzed past. Eventually another White appeared, G-v again, but hold on, what about the next, it looked smaller and the flight poorer. Yes. a Wood White. The net three butterflies were all Wood Whites, nice, before Large Whites, Orange-tips and Speckled Woods put in an appearance.
A walk round the Southern Butterfly Walk, proved even more fruitful. A trail leading of the main path, early on, saw me locate a Glow worm larva and lots of Lattice Heath on the wing. Suddenly a larger, orange butterfly flew past behind me, but i couldn't get on to it - a Comma or a Frit', based on the strong flight, but hope. There were a number of micro's flitting around some Gorse, which I managed to get snaps off. The smaller, more colourful turned out to be a tick in the form of Grapholita internana. The field guides states that G internata is usually found in the company of another Tortix Cydia ulicetana and sure enough the second species I photographed was C ulicetana.
Back on the main path, there was plenty of butterfly action, mainly Green-v, Large and Wood Whites. Eventually the path came to a more open area and the number of butterflies increased, as I added at least 3 Brimstone and a Holly Blue, before another orange butterfly flew past. This time I saw it coming and watched it pass in front of me. It was no Comma, not Small Tortoiseshell, but a Frit. Would it land? No, it just disappeared as I was watching it. Either the same individual flew past three times or three different butterflies flew past and each time as I watched them the just disappeared, like the fell out of the sky, but I couldn't locate them.. So the views were good enough to know they were Pearl Bordered Frit's but were highly unsatisfactory. A tick, but I'd like better views.
Wood White
Grapholita internana
Cydia ulicetana
Arriving at Higham just after 6am (I know, I was a bit lazy as first light is around 4am), it didn't take long for the first Nightingale to be heard, but no chance of seeing it. A bit further round the path and a third bird (I passed a second singing male that was never going to be seen) that offered hope as it was singing from low, Hazel, not far off the path and no big bushes in between. It still took about 15 mins of patient scanning and moving a step to the side and scanning again before I noticed somthing that appeared to big to be a stem on the Hazel. Sure enough, soon as it starting singing again, I could see it move. The view was crap, a bit of mantle and nape, but the movement syncing with the singing confirmed it was the bird. It then turned its head, giving a great profile view. Nice.. I counted 6-7 singing males in total, but only got the visual on one.
It was then over to Haugh Woods - a new site for me. A quick coffee and then off round the Northern Butterfly walk. 5 mins in and a White appeared - dam, a Green-viened. This was quickly followed by a second G-v. Carrying on, a Hornet buzzed past. Eventually another White appeared, G-v again, but hold on, what about the next, it looked smaller and the flight poorer. Yes. a Wood White. The net three butterflies were all Wood Whites, nice, before Large Whites, Orange-tips and Speckled Woods put in an appearance.
A walk round the Southern Butterfly Walk, proved even more fruitful. A trail leading of the main path, early on, saw me locate a Glow worm larva and lots of Lattice Heath on the wing. Suddenly a larger, orange butterfly flew past behind me, but i couldn't get on to it - a Comma or a Frit', based on the strong flight, but hope. There were a number of micro's flitting around some Gorse, which I managed to get snaps off. The smaller, more colourful turned out to be a tick in the form of Grapholita internana. The field guides states that G internata is usually found in the company of another Tortix Cydia ulicetana and sure enough the second species I photographed was C ulicetana.
Back on the main path, there was plenty of butterfly action, mainly Green-v, Large and Wood Whites. Eventually the path came to a more open area and the number of butterflies increased, as I added at least 3 Brimstone and a Holly Blue, before another orange butterfly flew past. This time I saw it coming and watched it pass in front of me. It was no Comma, not Small Tortoiseshell, but a Frit. Would it land? No, it just disappeared as I was watching it. Either the same individual flew past three times or three different butterflies flew past and each time as I watched them the just disappeared, like the fell out of the sky, but I couldn't locate them.. So the views were good enough to know they were Pearl Bordered Frit's but were highly unsatisfactory. A tick, but I'd like better views.
Well done on the butterflies I will have to make an effort to go for the Pearl Bordered.
ReplyDeleteA good day out, by the sound of it.
ReplyDelete