Hairstreak hunt

I was keen to see a different type of butterfly again this week so set out to find some hairstreaks and White Admirals. It was a trip to Oakley Woods again as the website has pictures of White Admirals there and as there are a bunch of Oak tree my book suggests that there should be a reasonable chance of finding some Purple Hairstreaks at this time of the year. The plan was to find some oaks with a sunny glade next to them and the hairstreaks should occasionally fly down to any areas of grass. White admirals apparently enjoy brambles so I’d check them out.

Needless to say my (somewhat limited) planning was to no avail. I ended up seeing loads of Speckled Woods, Green veined whites, a silver washed fritillary (couldn’t get a photo), a red admiral and a gatekeeper. I think the winds were too high for the hairstreaks to venture out of the canopy (assuming they are there in the first place!).

Link to:Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Oakley Woods page

Daddy, I’m bored, there’s not many butterflies today!

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Wandering in Wappenbury Woods

We visited the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust's Wappenbury Woods today hoping to see some more butterflies and we certainly did: we saw a Silver Washed Fritillary, Speckled Woods, Peacocks, Large Whites galore, Small Skippers, Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns and a Red Admiral.
We started off at Old Nun Wood but found the path to be a bit overgrown for us (that's because the baby was in his carrier back pack, passable without that) there were some impressive seven foot high nettles towering over me. We retreated and went on the the main woods.
We didn’t see too much at the start of our walk, there were a couple of Speckled Woods initially but we were in a fairly dark part of the woods working our way past (and through) the brambles. But after we reached the far side and worked our way back there were many coppiced areas in which the butterflies were active. The Silver washed fritillary had a damaged wing but seemed able to fly fairly easily, I enjoy seeing them particularly as I don’t see them in the back garden.
  We saw two or three small skippers in one of the coppiced areas, and numerous dragonflies (or similar creatures). We even spotted a large moth in one of the darker bits of the woods. I thought it might have been a yellow butterfly but was sadly disappointed.
 

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What's in the garden today?

 On Saturday I had a bit of time to myself as my wife and child were attending a birthday party. I fancied some time to myself so stayed at home and popped into the garden shortly before the thunderstorms started.

There were lots of white butterflies flitting around but the main ones that caught my eye were a Gatekeeper, a Red Admiral and a Large white dive bombing my veggie patch.