Beacon Batch, Charterhouse and Cheddar Gorge

A brilliant 11 mile hike up hill and down dale over the Mendips.  A long trek left us a bit foot sore and weary at the end but another fantastic day for butterflies a total of 18 different species seen in the prolonged sunny spells.  Highlights were spotting several Silver Washed Fritillaries a few Brimstones and seeing at least 30 Peacock butterflies on one Buddleja bush.  The scenery as always outstanding from the heather on Blackdown to the summer grasses and flowers everywhere.  It's amazing when you are looking at the flora and fauna around you don't realise just how far you have walked! The feet tell a different story though!......

Magpie Moth

Velvet Bottom - areas looking very much like African savanna the tall grasses could easily hide a lion!

Velvet Bottom 

Small Copper

Ringlet

Mendip locals!

Silver Washed Fritillary

Wall

Black Bee - unsure of the type but plenty on the top of the Gorge

Young Swallow on a conifer - looked a bit strange to see them on a tree

Heather and Gorse - great colours

Brimstone on thistle

Blackdown - with the summer heat and dusty dry paths it could have been Spain!

Peacock and Tortoiseshell - great to see so many this year.

Mendip Butterfly Bonanza

A wonderful 9.5 mile trek across the Mendips in a mixture of sunshine and thunderstorms.  The scenery beautiful with a mixture of heathers, gorse and bracken on the upland and summer grasses, vetch, thistles, knapweed, ragwort, rosebay willow herb etc seen everywhere.

The abundance of wild flowers providing food plants for an array of insects including the15 butterflies species that we saw.

A few birds to be seen included meadow pipits, linnets, kestrel, buzzard, ravens, and a peregrine heard from the top of Cheddar Gorge.

The rich mixture of flora, fauna and natural landscape truly lifts the spirit! 

Summer flora - grasses, ragwort and foliage

Ling and Erica - a purple carpet on Blackdown

Green Veined White on Rosebay Willow Herb

Tufted Vetch and Mendip fields

Small Skipper

Marbled White - plenty to be seen across the grassy wild meadows

Dark Green Fritillary - a stunning butterfly 3 of them seen on one small area of Knapweed together 

with about 7 marbled whites.

Summer meadow - Natures garden, perfection!

Ground Thistle - intense purple and great for skippers

Peacock - trying to soak up some heat

Comma on Bramble flower

Antler moth on Ragwort

View across Cheddar Gorge

Small Copper - another stunning little butterfly.  Great colours and markings.

Typical wild Mendips view.  Drystone walls and wild meadows - heaven!

Brean Down - High Summer

We spent an amazing morning on Brean Down - all grasses looking very brown now a combination of the heat wave and life cycle giving the down land an extreme dried out look.  Plenty of harebells, ragwort and brambles around all looking very colourful in their 'straw' background..

Saw a group of warblers in a hawthorn plus ravens and a striking stonechat.  Despite us getting caught and soaked in a thunderstorm when the sun did shine we saw a total of 14 species of butterfly the highlight for us being the Chalk Hill Blue.  It is the first time we have seen this butterfly and wow! What a stunner.

View from Brean Down across to Weston Super Mare

Small Skipper

Six Spot Burnet Moth - hundreds on Brean

Grayling

Stormy Skies

Chalk Hill Blue

Chalk Hill Blue

Stonechat

Wild Ireland

We spent a wonderful hot and sunny week in South East Ireland.  So much of the countryside so unspoilt and full of wild flowers, insects, birds etc.  The rivers Nore and Barrow are stunning to walk along and full of life for those who stop to look.  Plenty of Hooded Crows, swallows, swifts, grey wagtails and dippers etc.  Dragonflies, Demoiselles everywhere along river and stream as well as a great variety of wildflowers which played host to meadow browns, ringlets,tortoiseshells and fritillaries.  Not a great variety of flora and fauna seen this time but what hit us most was the scale of the unspoilt countryside out there to explore ....... another time! 

Hooded Crow

Young Dipper

River Nore

Hooded Crow

Scabious

Male and female Banded Demoiselle

Spotted Orchid

Musk Mallow

Banded Demoiselle

Mountain River

Cotton Grass

Wild meadow

Ruddy Darter

Wild River Barrow

Young Swallow

Swallow at sunset