This morning, I visited EWT Pound Wood in Hadleigh in south Essex .... see also here.
There was one main reason for my visit: to see and photograph Heath Fritillaries .... see here and here.
The Heath Fritillary is a very rare and highly-threatened butterfly that would, almost certainly, have become extinct in the UK were it not for conservation efforts over the past two decades. It is restricted to woodlands in south Essex, north Kent and Cornwall and Devon. In Essex, it prefers sunny, warm and sheltered habitats of coppiced or newly felled woodland where Common Cow-wheat is abundant.
I had not visited EWT Pound Wood before although I had previously seen Heath Fritillaries at EWT Thrift Wood near Bicknacre in Essex many years ago.
After entering EWT Pound Wood, a short walk down the bridleway brought me to an area of coppiced woodland with an obvious carpet of Common Cow-wheat. Whilst it was warm and reasonably bright, it took some searching to provide me with my first sightings of 4 Heath Fritillaries which were inactive. However, when some very bright sunshine eventually occurred, Heath Fritillaries were very active and flying around the area. I estimated that I saw at least 25 individuals.
The only other butterfly that I saw was a single Speckled Wood.
With regard to birds, I heard calling Common Buzzard, Stock Dove and Great Spotted Woodpecker plus I saw a single Chiffchaff and heard 2 other singing males and heard 2 singing male Blackcaps.
In addition, I saw 3 Grey Squirrels.
Here are some photos from my visit ....
Photo: entrance to EWT Pound Wood
Photo: EWT Pound Wood .... area 3 for Heath Fritillaries
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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