The weather in SE England is warm and dry through July and August; the mid-summer flowers are now late summer seeds and fruits. Coming after a wet spring, it is a great year for blackberries. The ivy flower is taking over from the bramble and will be the chief source of pollen and nectar for…
Tag: Brown Hairstreak
Brown hairstreaks on the North Downs
30th July 2023 The walk from home near Hextable in north west Kent to the corn bunting colony up on the downs passes along a tall, ancient hedgerow before emerging onto the rolling arable fields. This year the fields are down to flax and there are no nesting buntings to be seen or heard in…
Shipton Bellinger’s Browns
6th August 2016 Shipton Bellinger, a village on the southeastern corner of Salisbury Plain is a well known site to see brown hairstreaks Thecla betulae. This is an August flying species that is always local and confined to discrete areas of southern England and south Wales. Ancient byways to the west of the village rise through fields of abandoned…
Bernwood Forest
19th July, 2016 Bernwood Forest is one of the great butterfly woodlands of England. The forest today is much altered; a great dark window in the heart of Oxfordshire with irregular panes of dull softwood supported by thin hardwood frames. Early morning on the hottest day of the year is quiet and cool. Purple spikes of betony Stachys officinalis line…