Butterflies and Dragonflies

Butterflies

Photographs included on this page and in the Butterfly and Dragonflies Lists below by kind permission of Roger Hewitt and Ian Cross

A butterfly walk by Roger and Christine Hewitt – September 2006

With the village butterfly survey in May not fairing too well with the weather we decided to have a go ourselves in July. We cannot add anything new to the list for the village but we did see a good few and were particularly pleased to find Purple Hairstreak just below the reservoir at Culpepper’s Dish and also in Sares wood. The walk from Cullpepper’s Dish, on the track just inside the road, to Marl Pits car park provided us with Ringlet and Common Blue (photo) amongst a total of 16 species just on this one track.

On the 15th July the fields round Piddle Wood provided a fantastic sight – no rare species but the rare sight of butterflies in large numbers – we counted at least 17 species. Tonerspuddle Heath gave us 10 Silver Studded-Blues with large counts of Grayling.

With the permission of the farmer, David Hall, Rogers Hill farm is not only good for bird watching but also butterflies. We had picked the wettest afternoon, but with the sun out now and then we suprisingly found 16 species giving us our only Brown Argus and a small number of Essex Skipper and Small Blue.

The total seen: Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Large Skipper, Clouded Yellow, Brimstone, Large and Small Whites, Green Veined White, Orange Tip, Green Hairstreak, Purple Hairstreak, Small Copper, Small Blue, Silver Studded Blue, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma Silver Washed Fritillary, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Grayling, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Small Heath. 30 species overall within a few days and all seen from the footpath or track.

Butterfly List updated 2017