Friday 14th June 2 p.m.
Not just birds but butterflies too! Follow Viv on one of her weekly butterfly surveys in the BET woods.
When BET bought the reserves 18 years ago, it was decided by the Trustees that both woods would benefit from the creation of cleared spaces. By bringing light into the relatively dark woods growth of a wider variety of plants could greatly improve biodiversity. Not everyone supported the idea of removing the trees and leaving what initially appeared to be dry grassland or scrubland. But over time the results have been spectacular. The grasslands are now populated with an incredible variety of wildflowers and with this has come a noticeable increase in insects, bees, butterflies and recently dragonflies.
As a result we decided a few years ago to set up a butterfly survey transect. By working with the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme we can also contribute to the national data collection. The Scheme requests that we aim to head out every week between the end of March and early October and count all the butterflies we can spot within our transect. However there are time and weather limitations on butterfly counts – and this year has been particularly challenging! However even a poor survey is a useful survey so whenever we even barely met the weather requirements we have made the effort to head out. Today is such a day.
The weather is overcast and only 17°C so we are not expecting great results as butterflies like sunny (rather than hot), dry and calm weather. Our count starts at the very top of Jubilee Stone Wood heading along the path towards the Warreners Cottage. In the past, at this time of year, this woodland route would offer up a good selection of butterflies glad to escape the heat of the sun, but today not one. We try and remain optimistic. The sky is still overcast as we the reach the Cottage.
We push through the overgrowth which has so benefitted from this inclement weather, to find a couple of Meadow Browns and a few Ringlets lurking in the grasses. Not a good turnout but we are delighted to see them nevertheless.
In front of us we also spot some lovely Sycamore trees which appear to be dying. Ian advises me that this is almost certainly Squirrel damage.
Squirrels love to strip the bark to feed on the nutritious sap beneath. For some reason, probably connected to our weather, this has been a particularly bad year for stripping and Sycamores are clearly one of their favourite trees. After our Ash dieback loss we can only hope the Sycamores rally and survive.
We head for the Jubilee Stone and butterfly matters improve. The skies have cleared a little and this is a beautifully warm open spot with wild flowers dotted around the feature Ash tree. Although numbers are still not high we are delighted to see Marbled Whites and a good number of both Meadow Browns and Ringlets. We feel more positive as we head down the track towards the Jubilee Stone meadow.
The Jubilee Stone meadow has been a real success. Cleared in stages between 2007 and 2016, it has been allowed to naturally reseed, with maybe the occasional help from Ian’s pocket, and now offers a wonderful selection of flowers and plants. Whilst butterfly numbers are down we are still delighted to count over 70 butterflies including a couple of Small Skippers.
Quite difficult to distinguish from the Large Skipper (or even the Essex Skipper which has been spotted in North Somerset) Ian uses his camera scope to focus on the antenna and the forewings to make an identification.
As we exit the meadow we take the path over to Badgers Wood and head for Fern Way meadow. A small area cleared close to the quarry it now offers a spectacular display of Cowslips in the spring and the summer brings Ox Eye Daisies and Marjoram. Despite this, the meadow has, in the past, been our least successful for butterflies, possibly because it is an isolated spot rather than linked. Either way we are happy to record 8 butterflies in the meadow before progressing up the track to the three meadows located next to the quarry.
The three meadows are consistently good for butterflies. Located in a very sunny spot, high up the track the butterflies enjoy a selection of Scabious, Clover, Gorse, Vetch and Birdsfoot trefoil as well as grasses and cool woodland areas. We record a reduced but fair number of Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Small Skippers and a Small White. And we are delighted to spot our first Gatekeepers for the year.
The remainder of the survey takes us along woodland paths. We do catch sight of a couple of Meadow Browns fluttering around in the dappled sunshine but as we return to the top of Jubilee Stone Wood we can only hope that next week is warmer and sunnier and the butterflies return to enjoy the feast of flowers and plants.