karen's country calendar

 Having heard there was a single cattle egret in a field in Fen Drayton a few weeks ago I drove over to have a look. Sure enough amongst the gulls in a field of  cattle was the cattle egret. As I watched a farmworker appeared and the egret took flight but happily landed in a better position for me to take photographs!  

 Following a tip off via facebook, today I drove to Hampton just south of Peterborough and parked up at a newly created nature reserve round a lake where I was told 20 clouded yellows had recently been seen amongst the scrub along the lakes edge.  The vegetation looked past its best and not very inviting for butterflies and it was also quite breezy so I decided to sit on a bench and enjoy the warm sunshine and the view and wait. It wasnt long before I noticed a butterfly flying over the scrub a little way in front of me and I suddenly realised it was bright yellow not the usual white at this time of year.  Was it a clouded yellow or just a moth?  I couldnt get close enough to determine but then saw another and this time I could definitely see the brown edges to the wings.  I followed it but to start with it refused to land so I felt resigned to just having to tick it off but then it eventually stopped on a yellow flower but trying to identify a yellow butterfly amongst hundreds of yell

After visiting Knapwell Wood I then went on to Therfield Heath but there was a large cloud cover over the sun and for the first 10 minutes or so there were hardly any butterflies visible although I did see a small skipper which I hadnt seen before this year.  Then the sun came out and the heath became alive, with small butterflies, mainly meadow browns, gatekeepers and whites but then a number of the pretty chalkhill blues began to flutter about near the ground - I often wonder where they have all been hiding.  A few posed for photographs and  I also found a rather tatty small copper. I didnt see any dark green fritillaries which I have seen about this time before but I had already ticked them off from an earlier visit.   chalkhill blue   chalkhill blue chalkhill blue   chalkhill blue small skipper small copper

  On Tuesday my quest was to add two more butterflies to this years sightings so I planned to drive the 30 minutes to Therfield Heath via Knapwell Wood which is where I had previously seen whiteletter hair streaks. I knew exactly the glade to make for, a large bramble area surrounded by elm trees.  It was slightly cloudy but the sun came out just as I got to the glade and sure enough it wasnt long before I spotted a couple of white letter hairstreaks, with the W clearly visible on their folded wings. together with simply dozens of other butterflies enjoying the sunshine - commas, red admirals, peacocks, gatekeepers, ringlets and meadow browns. I dont think there is another place where I have seen so many species together at the same time! See next blog for Therfield Heath    White letter hairstreak   white letter hairstreak    white letter hairstreak    comma     peacock     red admiral

Tapping into Fridays butterfly enthusiasm and I suggested the boys and my daughter accompanied me on a visit to Paxton Pits. My daughter works at Little Paxton school but mentioned she had never visited the Pits. They boys all came armed with cameras of various qualities including my previous camera which I lent the eldest to try out.   We followed the Heron trail initially then diverted on to the River trail hoping to see some dragonflies alongside the water.  Surprisingly we saw more butterflies than dragonflies in that area but as we came away from the river, we passed a meadow with lots of dragonflies whirring above the grasses. One or two settled enabling photos and we found a couple more alongside the path as we walked back towards the carpark. We identified and photographed at least 3 different species but think we may have also seen a blue Emperor which didn't stop long enough for a picture.    southern hawker      intrepid explorer    co

A sunny afternoon and a few hours babysitting for my grandsons provided a good opportunity to go for a walk and look for butterflies for the Big Butterfly Count. With a clipboard and pencil ready we set off and within 30 seconds we had seen a red admiral and a couple of whites.   A good start to engage them with the task!   Walking down my usual daily route we soon started recording,  the 7 year old took charge of the  writing, the 12 year old ran ahead to point out the butterflies whilst the 10 year old reported back and the 5 year old was so excited at every " budder-dye"he saw it was a joy to behold! The ditch alongside the path is currently full of brambles, thistles, teasels and other wild flowers which is perfect for several different species and the boys were excited to spot several types they had seen in their garden.   A particular patch of teasels seemed very popular and the boys were amazed to see 5 or 6 peacocks just on that one plant together with a red admir

Having been unable to meet up in the Spring due to lockdown restrictions, my sister and I decided we could now perhaps meet half way and visit a couple of places in search of butterflies. Both having travelled almost identically timed routes, we pulled into the carpark at Bucknell Wood near Silverstone within five minutes of each other at around 830 am. Our target species for today were purple hairstreak, purple emperor (probably a bit hopeful although there had been one reported sighting in recent days), white letter hairstreak and white admiral. Wood whites are normally also seen here but we were probably too late this year. The sun was just starting to come out and the sunlit bramble areas gradually became alive with butterflies,  many ringlet, some meadow brown and large skippers in particular but  a few commas and red admirals too.  Strangely a notable absence of speckled wood butterflies. The fast flying silver washed fritillaries were also very active.   We were looking for