David, Roger and I had planned to go to Fermyn Woods in Northamptonshire
today but when we arrived at David’s he wasn’t feeling too good and decided not
to go. Roger and I felt we might as well
continue and headed off towards Market Harborough and onto Corby before
arriving at Fermyn Woods. We were
surprised to see how many cars were present with it being mid-week and e had to
find a spot at the side of the road.
After getting the gear out of the car and going back to the entrance
ride we were a little shocked to see how much clearing had been done along the
entrance track. There must have been at
least five to ten meters cleared on each side of the path, which did allow a
better look into the woodland, but the area cleared looked a real mess. We didn’t see a great deal as we walked
through the Fermyn Wood, seeing just a few Large White and a single Red Admiral
before we left the wood and headed for Lady Wood.
There hadn’t been any clearing in Lady Wood and we immediately began to
see more butterflies with several Meadow Brown and Ringlets as we got closer to
the wood and two hairstreaks high in a tree remained unidentified.
As we continued into the wood we continued seeing Ringlets and Meadow
Browns and several Speckled Wood. As we
reached a junction in the path we found more people looking for the Purple
Emperors and it wasn’t long before we saw our first and we also found a Common
Blue. As we walked along one of the
paths we eventually had at least three Purple Emperors and a single
Silver-washed Fritillary and a White Admiral and a Comma. The Purple Emperors did come down on the path,
but one over enthusiastic photographer appeared to be approaching too fast and
they kept taking to flight before we got anywhere near them but we did
eventually get some nice views.
Purple Emperor
We spent quite some time along the path and went further than we had done
previously but eventually we started to make our way back seeing more Silver
washed Fritillaries before leaving the wood and then finding two White-letter Hairstreaks
in the belt of trees at the edge of the field, although they remained at the
tops of the trees.
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Comma
As we walked back through Fermyn Wood we did see more than we had earlier
but far fewer butterflies than we had seen on previous visits, although we did
have some excellent views of an emperor near the entrance.
Male Broad-bodied Chaser
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
We hadn’t seen many birds during our visit but had heard several Common
Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps and at least one Garden Warbler was heard. There was a Red Kite over Fernmyn Wood and
there were good numbers of tits calling as we walked back but they remained
quite elusive although we did see both Blue and Great Tits and several
Long-tailed Tits. Other birders had seen
both Marsh Tit and Nuthatch, but we were unable to locate these.
After lunch we headed for Ketton Quarry in Rutland where we were hoping
to see more butterflies. When we arrived
at around 14:00 and initially walked along the valley to the north seeing
plenty of Marbled Whites and a good number of Dark Green Fritillaries but
little else except for a few whites. A
visit to the barbecue area produced more of the same and several Six-spot
Burnets.
Six-spot Burnet
Dark Green Fritillary
Marbled White
When we arrived, we had heard a loud noise, which we thought was a jet, but
after hearing it a few times and not seeing anything we were unsure as to what
the noise was. However, as we walked
back along the valley I saw the Red Arrows in the distance and assumed it was what
we were hearing earlier. We then had a
private showing as nine aircraft practiced their routines to the south and even
over the reserve, giving some superb views.
Red Arrows
Red Arrow
Red Arrows
Red Arrows
It was now becoming quite hot in the persistent sun and we called it a
day and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir on route home. We didn’t see a great deal with seven Common
Terns and a Eurasian Jay being the best.
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