July Woods
Jul. 30th, 2024 12:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puddlesharkThe Met Office says the temperature might get up above 30 degrees C here later today. A day to hide from the sun. So I took the shaded path through the woods at B., in search of Silver-washed Fritillary butterflies.
In the July woods, the bracken head high. The air warm and still. Silent save for the drone of flies, the fluttering of chaffinches taking dust-baths in places where the path has dried.
A rattle of wings drew my attention, and a female Hawker dragonfly flew up and inspected me from all angles, in case I was a tasty snack, before deciding I probably wasn't, and heading away over the bracken to resume her patrol.
I walked as far as the Great Bramblebush of B., where the butterflies congregate. Five Peacock butterflies were holding a gathering.
A single Red Admiral.
And hurrah! A distant glimpse of a Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia). This is the first one I've seen in a few years, so it's good to know they are still present in the woods here.
No Ringlet butterflies at all this year - not a single one - when this is usually one of their strongholds. There was an article in the paper today saying that butterfly numbers are way down on last year, based on early figures from the annual Big Butterfly Count. But the wet spring seems to have only affected certain species. Peacocks seem to be doing very well.
Yellow and Black Longhorn Beetle (Rutpela maculata).
In the July woods, the bracken head high. The air warm and still. Silent save for the drone of flies, the fluttering of chaffinches taking dust-baths in places where the path has dried.
A rattle of wings drew my attention, and a female Hawker dragonfly flew up and inspected me from all angles, in case I was a tasty snack, before deciding I probably wasn't, and heading away over the bracken to resume her patrol.
I walked as far as the Great Bramblebush of B., where the butterflies congregate. Five Peacock butterflies were holding a gathering.
A single Red Admiral.
And hurrah! A distant glimpse of a Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia). This is the first one I've seen in a few years, so it's good to know they are still present in the woods here.
No Ringlet butterflies at all this year - not a single one - when this is usually one of their strongholds. There was an article in the paper today saying that butterfly numbers are way down on last year, based on early figures from the annual Big Butterfly Count. But the wet spring seems to have only affected certain species. Peacocks seem to be doing very well.
Yellow and Black Longhorn Beetle (Rutpela maculata).
