I walked through the gate and along the short wooded path to the corner of wood and meadow and suddenly all was light and colour. Despite being mown at the wrong time of year for flowering plants the the woodland burial ground meadow was suffused with the gentle purple of Yorkshire fog grass, a food plant for the essex skipper. Spangling the meadow were the yellows of birdsfoot trefoil and meadow vetchling. Butterflies were abundant on this warm sheltered corner, both in the meadow and on the bramble. Skippers were on the wing here but try as I might I couldn't get a definite ID on an essex all were small. Gatekeepers always enjoy this corner and I found my first for the year here today. I had been thinking that they were late but a check of my records shows that they didn't appear until this time in 2020 and 2019.
The grass has been cut on the path around perimeter of the burial ground but so far this year the council have not flailed the undergrowth around the edges so butterflies were plentiful with speckled wood, ringlet, small white, comma and meadow brown on the wing. As I started the second circuit I was buzzed by a large green dragonfly, probable a Southern Hawker. Sadly it didn't stop.
- Small white 21
- Speckled Wood 6
- Ringlet 16
- Gatekeeper 7
- Small Skipper 3
- Comma 1
- Meadow Brown 3
- Green-veined White 1
To view large, please click on an image
No comments:
Post a Comment