Our summer job of registering butterflies is drawing to a close. Each week one or more of us goes up the Mendips to count what butterflies are in the transacts or sections of the walk that we exactly tread . This year has been reasonable although alas we have not spotted the once common chalk hill blue or the always rare Adonis blue. It has been very rewarding however and last week I took this photo of a young Comma feeding. These are really colourful and gorgeous. I also saw an elderly pale one at the same time, and Les Cloutman told me this would have come from the first brood of the season and that the Comma has two broods,unusually for butterflies
Then I visited Chew Valley Lake and was rewarded with seeing 5 great egrets. Huge white stork like birds,
Next week is the last butterfly walk this year. We are always very fortunate indeed to go up with our specialist Pete Smith, now 90 years of age and amazingly tenacious and fit!
This year our blackberries are stunning,large and sweet also
Best Wishes
Lucy White
In praise of our Little Brown Butterflies
Maybe there are not as many as we oldies remember but there are still lots of
butterflies in our countryside – some even visiting our gardens.
Some like the peacock and red admiral are as beautiful and showy as their names suggest but ‘brown’ butterflies at first glance look very uninteresting but take a closer look!
The ones you are most likely to see
 |
 |
| Meadow Brown | Ringlet |
 |
 |
| Gatekeeper | Small heath |
August is school holiday time – make it a wild month!
There is so much wildlife to see and things to do in Somerset.
With the Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) you can go to some of the very best parts.
Our local Wells Wildlife Group will be meeting at the Bishops Palace Moat (By the drawbridge)at 8.00pm on Tuesday the 23rd Aug joining bat experts with bat detectors. Other years we have seen- and heard- up to seven different species including dozens of Daubenton’s bats flying out from the drawbridge chains to skim low over the moat hunting for insects, tiny Pipistrelles , and nationally rare Greater Horseshoes who come out from caves on the Mendips.
For more information on this walk contact Amanda Millar 01458 741821 or David Coggan 01749 673155
It is fairly easy walking but be aware that we will finish well after dark, and it can get quite cool - even in summer.
Oh and bring an adult along - why should you have all the fun!
Natterer's Bat Nigel Milbourn 2011
There are events and organised walks on almost every day of the month
– just check out the SWT website: http://www.somersetwildlife.org/events.html
Les Cloutman