Yesterday as the sun shone I conducted a butterfly survey at Raw Nook Nr and Caldene Fields. A total of eight species were found which is relatively poor for mid summer. The butterflies I expected to record but didn’t were the Small tortoiseshell, Common Blue, Peacock and perhaps Red Admiral. The butterfly that appears to be doing very well is the Ringlet with a minimum count of 44 at Raw Nook Nr and 35 at Caldene Fields.
The white butterflies were both down in numbers and a poor count of 4 Meadow Browns at Raw Nook Nr was poor.
On a better note the first Gatekeepers (below) appeared with 1 at Raw Nook Nr and 2 at Caldene Fields.
The Straw Dot moth is enjoying the summer with a good count of 37 at Raw Nook Nr and 11 at Caldene Fields.
Two Poplar Hawmoths were at Caldene Fields last night.
