Today, Jenna, her son Harley, and I spent the day searching for two butterflies for our life lists: the Black Hairstreak and the Heath Fritillary. We began our day at Glapthorn Cow Pasture in Northamptonshire, looking for the Black Hairstreak butterfly.
Managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire, Glapthorn Cow Pastures is the premier site in Northamptonshire for spotting the elusive Black Hairstreak butterfly. These butterflies can be found throughout the area, but the best location for close-up photos is the well-known “third ride.” Upon our arrival, we met a lady who informed us that she had just seen the hairstreaks, so we headed straight to the third ride, as we were concerned that the rain might interfere with our chances of spotting them. Fortunately, we soon spotted an individual feeding on black hawthorn.
The black hairstreak butterflies perched on the flowering brambles, moving from plant to plant with their characteristic jerky flight. By the time we were about to leave the site after observing these rare butterflies, we had counted six individual butterflies.
Jenna and Harley on the third ride
After getting excellent views of the Black Hairstreaks, we made the two-hour drive further south to Hockley Woods in Essex, which is a well-known site for seeing the Heath Fritillary butterfly, one of Britain's rarest butterflies.
As we parked up and made our way through the woods, we thought it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. However, we soon discovered the first clearing in the forest.
As we all split up searching, Jenna called out that she had found one, and then she found two more! How easy was that? Unbelievable!
As shown in the photographs above, the Heath fritillary was observed exceptionally well. It was an amazing day; our butterfly list now includes 59 species in Britain.
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