Time out from the bird sex book and off to Drymere for a forest walk with Sue P. Had heard much about this place from her and it didn't disappoint! Within two minutes of arriving we were watching up to half a dozen humming-bird hawkmoths, busy nectaring on viper's bugloss along with lots of large and small skippers. Fabulous Brecky plants all along the ride, including some specialities like corn spurrey and sulphur cinquefoil.
Warm and sheltered, just how they like it.. full of flowers and butterflies in abundance.
Blink and you'd miss it: corn spurrey.
Sulphur cinquefoil - great colour and up to a foot and half tall, maybe more?
Fabulous musk mallow, and a proper pink one after the oh-too-subtle pale effigy seen at Cranwich the other week!
Some good birds about too - heard a garden warbler singing early on and then three tree pipits, all within earshot of each other and one busy parachuting, plus a buzzard sailing about. Chiffchaff, blackcap and yellowhammer too. And butterflies galore: red admirals, ringlets and meadow browns aplenty, a couple of very smart brown argus, plus scores of skippers - definitely saw one Essex, but mostly small and large. Some good dragonflies too, including an emperor on patrol. And the constant chirruping of crickets!
Not sure who this little chap is...
A little further on we started to see good stands of flowering bramble and honeysuckle - white admiral territory! Passed one clump absolutely covered in commas and red ads and then finally got to a huge mass of bramble in a very sheltered and very hot spot - and there they were, three white ads all busy nectaring. Two a bit tatty, the other pristine (but much shyer), great to see them!
Always cutting a dash, the white admiral steals the bramble show.
Carried on through the forest, along wonderful grassy rides and through surprisingly mixed woodland, finally emerging onto clearfell, where suddenly more floristic again - saw kidney vetch here and, finally, my first British common blue of the year! Plus another tree pipit, a couple of woodlarks and a superb singing yellowhammer on a wire, busy competing with a rival only metres away. More great plants as we got back to where we started, including greater knapweed, and then a late rush of red ads and hornets, seemingly feeding on sap oozing from a lesion on an oak tree... Great expedition, and more butterflies than I've seen in two hours in the UK for a loooong time!
Greater knapweed - got to be worth having in the garden anytime.
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