Date: 10th August 2025
Time: from 9:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 19°C to 24°C
Again prompted by the success of recent visits and the very warm early morning weather, I had another visit to the site with butterflies and dragonflies and damselflies in the grassland area and the pond in the northern section of the site being my main targets.
It proved to be another very successful visit and I recorded another new species for the site for 2025: Clouded Yellow
I was just leaving the northern section of the site when I noticed a bright yellow coloured butterfly. I initially thought it was a Brimstone although it didn’t seem quite right for that species. Fortunately, it landed and I was able to identify it as a Clouded Yellow.
The Clouded Yellow is one of the truly migratory European butterflies and a regular but uncommon visitor to the UK. Although some are seen every year, the species is famous for occasional mass immigrations and subsequent breeding which are known as ''Clouded Yellow years''.
I can not remember the last time that I saw a Clouded Yellow and I certainly haven’t recorded this species in my SS15 area before.
Photo: Clouded Yellow
Photo: Clouded Yellow
During my visit, I recorded 7 butterfly species. The number of butterfly species that I have recorded in 2025 (22) is already well in excess of that recorded in 2024 (17).
Sightings of birds were generally few, as expected during the summer months, but, for the fourth successive visit to the site, I did see a Common Buzzard. As I walked along the access track from Larkins Tyres, I could hear a loudly “mewing” bird which I assumed was in flight. Unfortunately, due to the tree canopy, I could not see it. However, as I emerged form the wooded area into the northern section of the site, a Common Buzzard flew out of the large oak tree and away from me in a northerly direction.
The other highlights during my visit were as follows:
Chiffchaff: 3 calling birds
Blackcap: 3 calling birds
Stock Dove: 1 again heard calling in the northern section of the site
Green Woodpecker: 1 heard calling in the northern section of the site
Great Spotted Woodpecker: red-capped juvenile heard and then seen as it flew into a tree bordering the church car park
Butterflies (in addition to Clouded Yellow):
– Common Blue (1)
– Peacock (1)
– Gatekeeper (at least 50)
– Meadow Brown (at least 5)
– Green-veined White (2)
– Small White (3)
Dragonflies and damselflies:
– Common Darter (mating pair plus 2 other males)
– Unidentified “hawker” species (2)
– Unidentified “blue” species (1)
There is already an abundance of autumn fruits and nuts around the site: blackberries, sloes, hips, haws, acorns, horse chestnut "conkers".
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Blackcap
Clouded Yellow
Common Darter
After watching a couple of instructional videos from Roger Hance and Steve Hedges on YouTube, I tried some butterfly flight photography using Pro-capture on my OM-1 camera. It is very difficult! There were 100s of binned efforts but a few were OK and I have included them below:
Photo: Peacock
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Gatekeeper
Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets):
Birds = 43 (49)
Total species list for the site
Birds = 69
Love nature .... act now
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