A Butterfly Fest on the Horsefield.

It had been dull for most of the day but after lunch the sun came out and I took the opportunity for a walk round the Horsefield in the hope of some butterflies. In this I was not disappointed. There seems to have been an explosion of them. Dog rose is looking spectacular now, with it's mass of pastel pink blossoms, the colour of a victorian china doll's cheeks. Hogweed has completely taken over from cow parsley and is well in flower; interesting that some flower heads are a pinkish/purple colour. I found rose-bay-willowherb, or fireweed, and creeping thistle in flower with it's small rich purple flowers. My favourite is the handsome scotch thistle, though, with its large, blowsy purple blooms. The large white trumpets of greater bindweed are now glowing from the depths of the undergrowth and the beautiful candy-striped field bindweed decorates the field edges; attactive, but described as a pernicious weed! It is now the season of grasses; they are waist high and lush with a myriad flower shapes and stem colours. There are still birds singing well: skylark, whitethroat, songthrush, yellowhammer and blackcap.

The observation of the day, however, was the huge numbers of butterflies now on the wing. There were clouds of small tortoiseshells chasing each other over the bramble bank, red admiral, meadow brown, large skipper and a single painted lady.

On my way home I noticed that hawthorns, only very recently forming a froth of white in the hedgerows, are already forming fruits, with just a hint of their future scarlet finery.