Purple Hairstreak

phWe are pleased to report there have been several Purple Hairstreak sightings of late. Now is a good time to spot the elusive creatures, who spend most of their time living amongst the branches of oak trees. The warm summers evenings are ideal for spotting them flitting amongst the leaves although getting a photo is not easy. There is more than one oak tree on the site so if you’re interested why not pop down on a warm and sunny evening and take a look. 6:30pm onwards is a good time.

oaktreeleavesI hasten to add the butterfly photo is not one of ours but we are working on that! You only tend to see them from a distance but if you see butterflies in the oak trees, at that time, it is more than likely this is what they are. We saw some tonight in an oak tree in the Northern corner of the North Lawn:

Site map

Bottle digging problems

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Bottle digging continues at the Nature Reserve and proves to be a thorny issue. The latest dig was in a discrete area, but leaving broken glass and rubbish exposed is not something you want to encourage on a Local Nature Reserve. The photos here don’t really do it justice, but it would be interesting to hear other people’s opinions on this pastime.

I can see why some of these areas have been dug and some of the finds may be interesting but it is a bit disrespectful to the volunteers, who have worked hard for the site to be awarded Local Nature Reserve status, to be confronted with this.

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