Shapwick Great Whites

Spent a wonderful few sunny hours at Shapwick and Ham Wall on the Somerset Levels.  Plenty of dragonflies skimming over brambles etc for smaller insects, it's amazing and mesmerising to watch them and their acrobatic skills in insect catching.  Almost like watching an air show at times!

A fantastic sight awaited us on the scrape, 9 Great White Egrets and about 20 little Egrets.  Also seen here were 2 Greenshanks, 3 Green Sandpipers, the usual Godwits etc.  A Marsh Harrier was also seen often hunting over the reeds.

Walking towards Ham Wall side there were still plenty of butterflies to be seen mainly Tortoiseshell, and Peacocks plus a few Red Admirals.  All of these were feeding on the Hemp - agrimony plants dotted along the way. A Silver washed Fritillary was seen a couple of times in 2 areas. 

A nice find of the day was a Spotted Flycatcher.  Great to observe catching insects and returning to it's perch.

Great Spotted Woodpecker seen often on the Levels

Grey Heron - common everywhere but still great to see

7 of the 9 Great White Egrets on the 'Scrape'. Have never seen this many together before.

Spotted Flycatcher seen at Ham Wall

Common Darter

Little Egret and Willow Herb.  Love these elegant birds

Little Grebe with Coot

Great White Egret now a familiar sight on the Levels

Black Tailed Skimmer 

Female Common Darter

Hemp - agrimony a great food plant for butterflies

Brown Hawker 

Crook Peak, Darters, Chasers and butterflies

Stunning walk up to Crook Peak along Wavering Down to Kings Wood and back to Compton Bishop along the fields.  The views from Wavering Down across the Somerset Levels are breathtaking and well worth the walk up to the Peak.  Plenty of Meadow Pipits and Goldfinches as well as Stonechats, Buzzards, Ravens a Kestrel and 1 lone Wheatear seen.  

Sunny spells brought the butterflies out in their hundreds the highlight being a ragged Dark Green Fritillary, Brown Argus, Grayling and a couple of Clouded Yellows that went whizzing by!  Field edges have been left uncut and it was great to see plenty of Common Blues in the grasses.  

The sweet corn in the fields is now over 6ft tall and on the field edges an amazing sight over the corn where at least 100 plus Hawkers were dancing in the skies the sun hitting their wings giving a wonderful bronze sheen.

Great views, great wildlife, and great exercise as well! 

Across the fields to Glastonbury Tor

Up towards the peak

Grayling on heather

Wall on thistle

Robins Pincushion - a colourful deformity caused by a gall wasp

Meadow Pipit

Looking back to Crook Peak

Small Tortoiseshell

Bedraggled Dark Green Fritillary

Southern Hawker

Common Darter

Common Blue - plenty to be seen

Brown Argus - great to see

Comma - plenty to be seen along the field edges

Common Darter

Brown Hawker - 100's of these near the sweet corn fields

Along the fields back to Crook Peak

Brown Argus - lovely!

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!