MEON VALLEY, HAMPSHIRE, PRIVATE ESTATE – Part 2
JUNE 2011
First Visit – 01/06/2011
Sunny periods and a good day for butterflies and flora.
You can only hope to cover about half the interesting places on this estate in a day. I don’t charge through mind you - miss too much that way. I’d rather wait by a clump of in-flower bramble of 10/15 minutes to see what turns up than walk by several clumps in the same time and see nothing.
I visited the longer of the two ‘under the pylon’ clearings, a few of the adjacent wood/meadow edges and one of the smaller woods where some rides are still quite open in places. Sorry to say, but I’m rubbish at scenery photography (and not much better at flora/fauna) so I have no general pictures to show you of the estate.
140 butterflies recorded in all, of which 77 were Meadow Browns. This did take me a little by surprise as I had been to other sites in the previous two weeks and had not seen any. If this was the ‘first-sighting’ total, what did this suggest for the rest of the year for this species at this site – particularly as 2010 had been a bad year for the MB nationally?
- Meadow Brown - Meon Valley - 01/06/2011
Other species seen for the first time were Brown Argus, Common Blue and Large Skipper, as well as additional sightings of Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Green-veined White, Red Admiral and Small Heath.
- Large Skipper - Meon Valley - 01/06/2011
- Red Admiral - Meon Valley - 01/06/2011
Also a good day for day-flying moths, 11 specimens in total – Mother Shipton, Burnett Companion and Brown Silver-line.
- Mother Shipton - Meon Valley - 01/06/2011
Not to mention the Micro-Moths. A month before it had been
Adela reaumurella in HUGE numbers, now the turn of
Nemophora degeerella.
- Longhorn Moth - Nemophora degeerella - Meon Valley - 01/06/2011
Several Dragonflies also.
- Damselfly (Azure?) - Meon Valley - 01/06/2011
Second Visit – 14/06/2011
Two weeks later and a glorious day, excellent for butterflies. Five new species, Marbled White, Ringlet, Silver-washed Fritillary, Small Skipper and White Admiral were added to the list.
- Small Skipper - Meon Valley - 14/06/2011
Together with Peacock, Comma, Common Blue, Large Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Small White, Small Heath and Meadow Brown that was 16 species in total.
This time I went into the heart of one of the larger woods that has received little TLC for a long while. Rides and paths were very overgrown but in the centre is located a crossroads where all four paths still remained quite open due to some extensive work a decade or so ago. Absolutely ideal for the woodland species with plenty of Bramble, Ragged Robin, Ragwort and other nectar species in the clearings between path and wood.
With White Admirals swooping down to the bramble from above and Silver-washed Fritillaries sweeping along the paths from all 4 directions to the same nectar sources, I just sat there for an hour or so in complete awe.
- Silver-washed Fritillary - Meon Valley - 14/06/2011
- White Admiral - Meon Valley - 14/06/2011
Nearby a Comma had staked out a patch of bramble and chased off all-comers. A few Meadow Browns drifted by, searching for each other and the Knapweed just starting to flower in the more sunny clearings. Not surprising really that they found their way into this wood in view of the huge numbers in the meadows and under the pylons. All this with just birdsong; no other noise, no people - bliss.
- Comma - Meon Valley - 14/06/2011
Could have stayed there forever, but I eventually dragged myself away to search under one of the pylon clearings and then down a long wood/meadow edge. And it was just fantastic – never seen such concentrations of Meadow Browns, a dozen or more at every bramble clump, interspersed with Large Skippers at regular intervals. Also my first Ringlet of the year – still ‘pumping-up’ its wings – fantastic.
- Meadow Brown - Meon Valley - 14/06/2011
- Ringlet - wings still not fully 'inflated' - Meon Valley - 14/06/2011
Then, on to the Victorian Walled Garden. Long abandoned for horticulture, it now consists of fruit trees trained round the walls, a central mown area but with un-mown strips all round, left to grow as un-grazed meadow - with different areas being cut on a rotational basis to prevent succession to scrub and wood. Small though it may be its diversity of flora is considerable. Just in this small area (approx. 70 x 30 metres) 9 butterfly species were seen that day.
Altogether that day 280 Meadow Browns, 38 Large Skippers, 22 White Admirals and 11 Silver-washed Fritillaries were recorded from a total count of 388 butterflies and 8 moths.
John.
I'd settle for a few Dukes 
