Fritting fantastic

Up stupidly early (alarm at 0345) this morning for a more-hope-than-expectation Quail hunt with Steve P.

Scored at neither site we visited, but plenty of quality to distract us anyway.

The first site (which I can't unfortunately name) turned up calling Stone Curlew, at least 2 Corn Buntings and loads of Yellowhammers.

From here we headed to Martin Down, where the compensation came in the shape of butterflies. Lots of them. Undoubted star were the Dark Green Fritillaries, of which a bare minimum of 157 were counted. I only have county reports dating back to 99, but perusal of those suggests this was something of a record count. When the fact it wasn't the hottest part of the day is taken into consideration, with many more seemingly lower down in the long grass, plus our less-than-total coverage, and it is likely the true numbers were MUCH higher. Marbled White and Ringlet were prominent too, with 76+ and c70 respectively (although Meadow Brown was most numerous overall, with several hundred present), with c40 Small Skipper, 6+ Small Heaths and a couple each of Small and Large White. Chimney Sweeper was the most conspicuous moth, but top quality-wise was a single Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Oh, and Turle Dove and Cuckoo were heard, and you can chuck in three species of orchid to that lot as well.

All in all well worth a morning off!

7:18 PM - Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - post comment