As it's a quieter time of year for birds I had a request from one of our Wednesday group to visit Alners Gorse for our August outing. Nick and I have been to the reserve a few times and last visited only two weeks ago, but never turn down the opportunity to go back. If you love butterflies and you have never visited Butterfly Conservation's brilliant reserve at Alners Gorse in North Dorset you are definitely missing a treat.
Walking through the gates on to the reserve we immediately had Red Admiral, Meadow Browns, Gatekeeper and Green-veined White and we'd hardly walked any distance. Walking down the hill and watching the tree and hedge line we soon added Large White, while a couple of Swallows flew low over our heads. It was so sheltered along here and through the reserve it was delightfully warm and sunny, absolute heaven for the butterflies.
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Purple Hairstreak on Alder Buckthorn © Jackie Hull
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As we reached the flat we watched a Peacock and then Joe spotted our first Purple Hairstreak, fairly high in an oak tree but with binoculars we could see it well. Its purple sheen as it turned was beautiful and quite mesmerising, however not great for photography up there. Following the bramble laden hedgerow we had a Speckled Wood, and even more Red Admirals, Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers! Now it was House Martins feeding with their little "buzzy" sounds filling the air and a Bullfinch giving it's plaintive call. Chris, our reptile expert was soon off as usual looking for Common Lizards by the wood piles and finding several during the day, though they were off too quickly for the rest of us to see. We also came across several young frogs.
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| Sneezewort © Richard Samson |
We were now finding a few more Purple Hairstreaks giving the photographers a better chance, while our first Brimstone of the day came by. The beautiful Silver-washed Fritillary glided past and landed, all too briefly and then it majestically flew on. Two weeks ago Nick and I watched and photographed many Purple Hairstreaks feeding on the tiny flowers on a Alder Buckthorn, we found two on this same bush. At the time I did not recognise this bush and a kind gentleman informed me of the name, having looked it up this bush is also a food plant of the Brimstone. The wildflowers on the reserve are abundant and beautiful, one of my particular favourites was the Sneezewort.
Moving on we found Small and Large Skippers, just one Marbled White but we had still not found what we really were looking for - the Brown Hairstreak. So back to the bramble hedgerow and I saw a photographer most engrossed in something, I quickly found his subject, that elusive Brown Hairstreak, brilliant! When everyone had their fill of this rare and perfect little butterfly we moved on, we had been told where we might find a White-letter Hairstreak. Joe spotted it first, a very tatty specimen as it really is getting late for them now and next to it was a Ringlet. This brought our total to 16 species of butterfly, a brillant and very successful morning.
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| White-letter Hairstreak © Jackie Hull |
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Brown Hairstreak © Jackie Hull
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