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Friday 24 June 2011

Fritillaries

I had a spare morning today, so I decided to visit Wendover Woods. Ridiculous numbers of Firecrests have been reported here lately, so I thought I'd take a look to see if I could find any for myself.
 Well as I suspected after over two hours searching around the named area, I failed to even hear any of the said birds. Either they had all decided to move off at once (unlikely ) or the person reporting them has a very good imagination (more likely )
 I did see one Goldcrest, lots of Coal Tits, Nuthatches, Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs and a Garden Warbler.
 Raptors were seen in the shape of a Sparrowhawk, a few Buzzards and a few Red Kite.
My disappointment at not seeing the Firecrests was soon forgotten however as I found my first ever Silver-washed Fritillary feeding on some Bramble flowers

silver-washed fritillary
 I then decided to have a look at the area between Pitstone Hill and Steps Hill as it seemed like a good Butterfly day.
This proved a good choice as the meadows were full of these flying beauties.
My second Fritillary species of the day, Dark Green were present in good numbers.
                                                           Dark Green Fritillary

 Also present were Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites, Common Blues, Small Heaths, Ringlets as well as Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals and Brimstones.
                                                     Marbled White
Birds were not too numerous, but I did spy a couple of Corn Buntings on the fence posts as well as Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, a Yellowhammer and some Linnets.
                                                Skylark

Down in the bottom of Income Hole oneof the Ashridge Estates 'black' Fallow Deer sauntered around
                                                            Fallow Deer

It was while looking at the Deer I realised I was standing amongst quite a large colony of Pyramidal Orchids.
Pyramidal Orchid

I know it isn't quite North Bucks, but at least it was Buckinghamshire

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