Date: 18th July 2025
Time: from 9:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 22°C to 29°C
Prompted by the success of recent visits to my St. Nicholas Church local patch site and the very warm early morning weather, I had a visit to the reserve this morning with butterflies and dragonflies and damselflies being my main targets.
However, it was a very slow start to my visit with just a single Gatekeeper (albeit a new record for the reserve for 2025 as per below) seen along the track from the Spanish Steps although it became significantly better as the temperature increased.
I had very successful visit and I recorded 5 new species for the reserve for 2025:
– Common Blue (6)
– Gatekeeper (at least 50)
– Red Admiral (1)
– Ringlet (1)
– Brown Hawker (1)
During my visit, I recorded 10 butterfly species. The number of butterfly species that I have recorded in 2025 (17) is now the highest annual total since I started keeping records.
Surprisingly, I failed to record any “golden” skipper species during my visit and I have still yet to record Marbled White despite its abundance at my St. Nicholas Church local patch site.
In addition to the first records for 2025 as per above, I recorded the following butterflies:
– Large White (at least 20)
– Small White (at least 20)
– Green-veined White (1)
– Comma (4)
– Meadow Brown (4)
– Speckled Wood (3)
During my visit, I recorded 2 unidentified dragonfly/damselfly species:
– unidentified “hawker” species (probably Migrant Hawker and/or Southern Migrant Hawker) (at least 10)
– unidentified “blue” Damselfly species (at least 3)
Unsurprisingly given that it is now mid-summer, I saw and heard very few birds during my visit (just 6 species) but this did include unseen Chiffchaff (1 singing male and 1 calling bird) and unseen Blackcap (2 singing males).
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Blackcap
Common Blue
Brown Hawker
Here are some photos
from my visit ....
Photo: Common Blue
Photo: Common Blue
Photo: Comma
Photo: Comma
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Ringlet
Photo: Green-veined White
Photo: Large White
Photo: Common Blue Damselfly
Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets):
Birds = 34 (38)
Total species list for the site:
Birds = 49
Love nature .... act now
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