Down Snitterfield Bushes

I’ve not had much success in getting out to see butterflies lately, instead I’ve been concentrating on trapping and ID’ing moths. I thought that this was set to continue with the recent arrival of baby number 2. Twitter brought me news that there were two guided walks run by Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire nearby, one in Snitterfield Bushes on Wednesday and the other near Draycote village on Saturday. As I’m on paternity leave I’d initially thought there was no chance I’d be allowed able to go. But I had managed to get well ahead on the household chores and asked if it was ok to go fifteen minutes before the required departure time. Permission granted, bag packed, escape imminent. Then the midwife rolled up, normally I would attend to the older boy while the midwife checked out the baby. Luckily this wasn’t required and I was free to go. I quickly went before any minds were changed.

I jumped in the car and headed off towards Stratford, there were loads of butterflies at the sides of the roads so we were bound to see a few at Snitterfield.

Having rushed out I was fairly poorly clothed for a wander round woodlands and meadows. Shorts and tee-shirt with bright yellow trainers were not the standard outfit amongst the rest of our party. Not being a keen follower of any sort of fashion, this was the proverbial water off of the duck’s back. The weather was pretty good, I’d just have to remember not to bash through any brambles and look out for nettles.

There were tonnes of butterflies on show. Keith and Mike, our guides for the walk, were great at telling us what they were and showing us where to look. Butterflies spotted were: Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Silver Washed Fritillary, Purple Hairstreak, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper, Essex Skipper (I think, though not 100% certain what the final verdict was on this one), Marbled White, Large White, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and a Comma. Some moths were out too including a Hummingbird Hawk, Six Spot Burnets and Shaded Broad-Bar. It was great you didn’t have to try hard to see butterflies, it was a great trip out.

 

 

Silver Washed Fritillary (stalking a meadow brown?)

Large Yellow Underwing (Moth)

Speckled Wood

Marbled Whites

Small Skippers

Shaded Broad-bar (moth)

Meadow Brown

Six Spot Burnet (moth)

For the Skippers the area to look out for is the unsderside of the tips of their antennae. If they are all black then they are Essex Skippers, if not then they are Small Skippers (far more common). Good luck telling them apart or even getting them to sit still long enough for a picture.

Like Cinderalla I had to leave the ball early as I had promised to be home in time for lunch. Keith let me know that I would miss one of the highlights on the second half of the walk – White Admirals! Something to look forward to next time.

As a side note I would like to add that upon arrival back home I was locked out of the house and my wife and the two little ones were both sound asleep. I could see her sleeping from the rear windows of the house. I sat in the garden for the best part of an hour before getting let in. But at least I got out at all, I wasn’t expecting to see a dozen or so species in one morning. Cracking day out.

Sunday Butterflies at Newbold Comyn

 Still being keen to find more species of butterflies I headed back to Newbold Comyn to visit the Leam Valley Nature Reserve. I had checked out the results on the Big Butterfly Count website to determine if there were any places nearby that might have something interesting to see. Newbold Comyn was the place to go for Common Blues and I was not let down. I managed to get pictures of both a male and a female.

Wandering along at the side of the River Leam we saw Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Green-veined Whites, Peacocks, Red Admirals and Speckled Woods. We also saw a green woodpecker but it was too quick to get a photo. Plenty of dragonflies too but I have no idea how to go about photographing them, much too fast. We'd brought the pram instead of the backpack for the boy, poor choice as the ground was a bit too rough for the pram. We had to head back early as it was too hard going. We'll be sure to head back soon.

We did spot one butterfly which we couldn't identify. Please let me know if you know what this is.

Unidentified butterfly

 

Peacocks

 

 

 Speckled Wood in the trees

 Gatekeeper

Oakley Woods - Overly Friendly Peacocks!

On Saturday morning we ventured out into the nearby Oakley Woods to do a bit of butterfly spotting. I'd been reading up on where might be a good place to find species that I had not yet spotted, the garden was full of small tortoiseshells, gatekeepers and the speedy whites that I can never quite get a photo of. I wanted to see some new butterflies so off to the woodlands we went. the book recommended oak woods but I'd make do with pine today, though the amount of ferns that there were gave it the feeling of a jungle, well that combined with the rather warm temperatures. Accompanying me today were the boy and my wife (who turns out to an excellent butterfly attractor)

Late afternoon Warwickshire butterfly walk

 After a bright and sunny morning I persuaded my wife to join the boy and I on a walk around the fields near our house. I'd seen some butterflies flitting about in the back garden so knew that there should be plenty around: we weren't disappointed.

One of the most frequently observed butterflies of the day was the Ringlet (see right and below). We must have saw dozens of them over the course of our two hour walk.
 

We took a route along farm tracks that took us past lots of patches of brambles, they were rather popular with the butterflies. My wife enjoyed watching me chasing after the butterflies trying to take pictures before they sped off into the wind. I caught sight of a few white butterflies but couldn't get near enough to photograph or identify them.

 We also saw plenty or Small Tortoiseshells (right) as well as a smaller number Red Admirals (below). I kept mixing them up and my wife had to keep me right. I'm not sure why I mix them up, must be all the black, white and orange or red on them, I'm a bit colour blind. I'm glad the butterfly book that I have lists them in the same section, makes me feel slightly better.

 We saw a few splashes of orange around too being  Commas. These seemed happier to pose for pictures in easily accessible places.

We left the farm track to cross onto a right of way back across the fields towards our house. we started to see a few more types of butterflies. Below roght is what i think is a Meadow Brown. It looks a bit drab compared to it's more colourful colleagues but I guess that's why its categorised as a brown!

A butterfly that can't be accused of being drab is the Gatekeeper. We only saw one of these, I don't think that I've ever saw one of these before.

We didn't spot any other types of butterflies for the rest of the walk though we did see a few groups of caterpillars in webs. There were also larger ones next to these, I think that they might be Peacock caterpillars though I'm not entirely sure (see below).

After seeing the caterpillars it was clear that there was some poor weather on the horizon. I assured my wife that it was heading away from us. Luckily we just made it home seconds before the heavens opened. It was very lucky for me as I don't think my wife would be too keen to join me on any more trips out.

Six butterfly species! Seven if you count the caterpillar.