Cissbury Ring (22/9/21)

After eventually reaching Dad's we went for a brief walk at Cissbury Ring for butterflies and flowers.  Nothing really of note although I did find a small patch of Autumn Gentian.

Bordon / Shipton Bellinger (14/08/21)

 My final specialised trip for orchids and butterflies for this year was successful (eventually).

The Green-flowered Helleborines at Bordon were still out but nearly going over.  I counted 9 plants in total but there were probably more.

At Shipton Bellinger the Brown Hairstreaks were showing exceptionally well and I counted at least 6.

Other butterflies were in good supply as well including lots of Brimstones, Small Copper, a faded Dark Green Fritillary and Brown Argus.

I was just about to head home when I bumped into an gentleman who was doing a survey and he told me he had seen a Wall Brown about 0.5 miles walk from where I was.  I headed up there and after finding a Redstart spotted a butterfly sunning itself on the path.  I got a quick photo and then got closer and got another photo before it turned into aggressive mode and started chasing off other butterflies and then disappeared and never came back - a Wall Brown!

Yet another boggy day (07/08/21)

I went back to the New Forest to try the site I didn't do last week.  The weather was horrendous on the way down and I narrowly missed bending the car when I was drenched by a fast moving car on the motorway and was temporarily blinded by a wall of water.

When I got to what I thought was the site the weather had improved but I couldn't match the location to the map I was given.  I then realised I was probably on the wrong side of the dual carriageway so back in the car and eventually managed to find the site.

I then spent a couple of hours walking around finding nothing in the way of orchids so back to the car and looked closer at the map.  It turned out I didn't have to walk far from the car and the concrete block I was searching for was hidden from my site because I am so short - if I had walked over the rise of the heath a bit more I would have seen it.

As it happens, after some careful searching dodging the downpours, I managed to see 5-6 Bog Orchids - they are so tiny!

Birds in the area included another group of Woodlarks (they seem have bred well this year) and a fly-over Raven.

A small group of Fallow Deer were feeding amongst the bushes

A Boggy Day (01/08/21)

 Despite extensive searching I could not find Bog Orchid - in fact the only orchid I saw all day was Heath Spotted Orchid.

Good numbers of Woodlark were encountered.

The only site I did not go to for Bog Orchid turns out to be the best place - I will have to try again next weekend

Helleborine's day (31/07/21)

 With some help with a kind person I finally saw Narrow-lipped Helleborine, the Broad-leaved Helleborine's were showing much better but no luck with Green-flowered Helleborine - the verge where I was told to go had been strimmed!

Surrey Butterflies & Orchids (24/07/21)

Finally made it to Sheepleas and Oaken Wood.

At Sheepleas I found a few Helleborines in a couple of patches but then I found a glade which literally had loads of Helleborines with a few scattered around in coppiced areas.  Despite trying my hardest to find Narrow-lipped Orchid, with one plant looking good, after consulting the experts online it turned out that all my orchid pictures were of Broad-leaved Helleborine - but still a new plant for me.

Most of the plants were not in flower, but here is a selection of those that were:

On one of the meadows were a few Chalk (Common) Fragrant Orchids, Gatekeeper butterflies were out in force and a new moth for me Shaded Broad Bar:

At Oaken Wood there was a good selection of butterflies and I tried to photograph as many whites as I could, however, most of them would not sit still long enough.  However, after a while I managed to see a butterfly which looked good for Wood White and I got some shots of it.  Eventually I managed to get a photo of the other white's I was seeing.  After getting home and consulting the experts if turned out that the other white I photographed, which I assumed was a Small White, was in fact a male Green-veined White - Bonus!