Apologies for late report
Sunday 2nd June. Aniother sunny weekend and a chance to get out
I arranged to meet up with Wurzel to look for Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary in Bentley Wood. Firstly though a quick recce to Wrecclesham for Glanvilles was in order. Though the weather was fine and the vegetation lush the only butterfly seen was a solitary male Orange-tip
. However the lake at the bottom of the sand pit grabbed a lot of my attention. As I approached I could here a cacophony of croaking frogs, like nothing I'd heard before outside a tropical country. Some of the croaking seemed right at my feet yet try as I might I couldn't see any individuals that were making it
. Wearing trainers standing on boggy ground I had to give up my search. I assume they are Marsh frogs (?), certainly it wasn't like the gentle "knee-deep" of a common frog which I get every to hear every year at their breeding time in my garden pond.
On the way out I met up with fellow UKB'er Pauline and let her know of my findings or lack of them. She was concerned about the missing Glanvilles and stated that although late they were still "around at this time last year". Last year my first Glanvilles at Wrecclesham were not seen until the 6th of June and this was about three weeks or more after they were showing on the IOW. This year the Glannies on IOW have only been around about a week or so I believe so I'm still optimistic they'll put in a showing at Wrecclesham
Meeting up with Wurzel in Salisbury and a change of plan .. Wurzel had just got info on a Marsh Fritillary site off the A36 nr Warminster. His recces to Bentley up to now had not revealed any Small Pearls so it was off to look for Marshies instead.
On entrance to the site after a 20 minute drive, the first sighting was a Small Blue which pleased me as this was my first of the season
. Soon after we encountered Dingy Skipper and then a couple of Marsh Fritillaries (second new species for this season
)
. With a light breeze the butterflies when landing would keep low down in amongst the grass making a clean grass blade free photograph difficult to get shooting at distance with my Canon Tamron 70-300mm set-up.
Soon after arriving a great big grey cloud passed over followed by others and this continued for 3/4 of an hour or so ...and the butterflies just 'disappeared'
with the exception of this male Wall Brown, my third new species for the season
.
Thankfully the sun won out and the butterflies soon returned in some numbers.
- Greasy winged Fritillary
At one location we had 7 species in an area of about 12ft square ... Common Blue, Marsh Fritllary; Dingy and Grizzled Skipper; Small Heath; Small Blue and Brown Argus, the latter my 4th new species for this season
.
Wurzel might add a Green Hairstreak to that tally as he's now got his greenstreak goggles on but I think that's stretching it a bit
.
- I should've waited till Wurzel had finished his gardening
On the way home I dropped into Bentley to check for the Small Pearls. In the early evening sun I encountered about a 15 or so fritillaries all of them Pearl Bordered. The lack of Small Pearls surprises and concerns me more than the missing Glanvilles at Wrecclesham
. There were plenty around on the 26th of May last year, mixed in with equal numbers of slightly scuffed Pearls. Although the visitor book showed Small Pearls I think these were mis-identified. Two of the visitors whom I met showed me their camera shot "Small Pearls" which were actually pictures of Pearls. I expect we'll know if my concerns are founded in the next couple of weeks.
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Bentley
Phil
yet breezy conditions.
