It's been an odd week here.
My partner and I are both on holiday, and while we haven't gone to stay anywhere this time, we had hoped to go out for a couple of day trips... and that hasn't happened.
This is mostly due to the fact that she is hoping to go to university in September, so the week has been spent planning finances, and accommodation and making lists of stuff she will need to take. Its becoming increasingly complicated... and increasingly expensive!
We did manage to find time for one, single day out... and to make it easy we chose a place that is relatively local: Red Hill Nature Reserve
It is a small Reserve, owned by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, and is a great example of Chalk Grassland. Located on the road between Lincoln and Louth, it features several meadows full of wildflowers.
It is a great place to see Butterflies and Orchids apparently... so lets go have a look!
Oh wow! I've literally taken just a few steps into the reserve and have already seen this lovely Marbled White Butterfly...
...2 steps further forwards I spot this 6-spot Burnett Moth resting on a Pyramidal Orchid.
That makes a change! We've only been here 5 minutes and already seen what we hopped to see. Of course, as we had already driven all the way here, it seemed daft to go home now!
We then set off across the meadow to see if there was anything else exciting to see.
well for starters, there were plenty of plants to look at:
Common Restharrow - Ononis repens
Goat's-beard - Tragopogon pratensis
Field Scabious - Knautia arvensis
Yellow-rattle - Rhinanthus minor
Along with a nice variety of wildflowers, I saw lots of the image on the left hand side, which shows the flowers which have turned into seeds. There were loads of these across the reserve, all of which had gone to seed. It was only right near the end of the walk when we found the plant on the right, that we realized it was actually Yellow-rattle.
Common Bird's-foot-trefoil - Lotus corniculatus
Possibly Common Knapweed - Centaurea nigra
Not sure on the ID of this (it might be Greater Knapweed to be honest. The small fly sat on the flower is a type of Hoverfly - Episyrphus balteatus
And then we have a Bee feeding on Knapweed... I can't tell what it is by looking at its butt...
But now I can see that this is an Early Bumble Bee - Bombus pratorum
And then resting nearby was this Common Blue Butterfly
It really waas turning out to be a glorious day. The meadow looked quite small on the maps, but now that we were here in person, the field just went on and on.
By this point it was 2pm. The sun was high in the sky, and although there was a fresh breeze, we were starting to get rather warm. There was still plenty to see:
Common Spotted Orchid - Dactylorhiza fuchsii
(I think... Orchids are awkward to ID)
Pyramidal Orchid - Anacamptis pyramidalis
The Pyramidal Orchids were much easier to ID, and surprisingly abundant... they literally carpeted some parts of the meadow
Mostly Pyramidal Orchids, with a few Common Spotted Orchids dotted in between
Conopid Fly - Sicus ferrugineus
Kidney Vetch - Anthyllis vulneraria
Stopping for lunch, we had a great view over the landscape. The 'Wolds' is a series of gently undulating hills here on the east of Lincolnshire. Not a bad place to stop for lunch, although the warm cheese sandwich left a lot to be desired!
Lady's Bedstraw - Galium verum
Ah, a Marbled White feeding on a Scabious flower. Very distinctive looking butterflies, and very easy to ID as there is not any species that look similar to this in the UK
Next I saw this cocoon... it looks like a cocoon of a moth, and it looks like the occupant has recently emerged
When I looked further down the grass stem
I could see an individual resting on the lower end of the stem
It was a 6-Spot Burnet Moth.
There were absolutely loads of these seen on the reserve today, either seen feeding on the Scabious or Knapweed flowers, or fluttering about searching for a mate.
There were loads of these Marbled Whites too!
And there were other butterflies to see - this is a Meadow Brown
And I spotted this Latticed Heath in amongst the vegetation.
This was the best picture I could manage, he was pretty camera shy. Fortunately his markings are clear enough that I am sure of the ID
And another one, this is a Small Heath Butterfly, these were quite flighty and awkward to photograph too!
And finally, with a splash of colour we have a Small Tortoiseshell.
These are generally quite common and widespread across the UK, and with the Summer season underway, I expect to see many more of these over the next few weeks
I had never been here before (my partner has visited just once) but on todays results, I would love to go back and explore it again, it is a great little Nature Reserve.
All names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces
Further Research from UK Moths and NatureSpot
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This looks like a really beautiful reserve! I !love it! My favourite is the black butterfly with the red spots, but what you call a "common" blue butterfly is very beautiful as well! And think that not all beautiful things cost a lot of money! I was just discussing this on the table tonight. What is more beautiful to be in the nature, spend some time enjoying really beautiful moments seeing animals, plants etc. Also these wild orchids are really special! !CTP
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Agreed, it's always worthwhile to spend time out in nature... and it is amazing what you see if you slow down and take the time to look
The Orchids are always a treat!
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I absolutely agree, but slowing down ist the most difficult part these days. !CTP
Congratulations again your post teaches us many interesting things
happy to share what little knowledge I have 😁
What a nice day out. You found lots of cool plants and insects. :))
it really was. It's amazing how much you can see if you just slow down and take the time to look :-)
Wow, your photos are great and so cool that you saw many species of beautiful butterflies!
as always friend congratulations for your ecological contribution in AN
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Wow Dan, some of your nature shots are just stunning.
Cheers Brian, I just try to react to what appears in front of me. Some of the insects can be flippin' awkward and fidgety but sometimes they behave and let me take a nice picture of them 🤣
Do you use a ring flash, or are they all shot with purely whatever ambient light is available?
I've tried using ring flash, but I find that its quite obvious that flash is being used, which is a huge 'turn-off' for me. It has its place in woodland (cos its so gloomy in there) and also at night, but generally I try to avoid it.
Besides, in the middle of a meadow in summer, its usually a case of too much light haha. I could do with one of those defuser panels (using the middle part one of those 5in1 things) to hold between the sun and the subject to soften the light. But that requires planning ahead (and preferably a third hand to hold the damn thing!) 😅
The plus side of bright sunlight means I'm able to use a really high shutter speed, which helps to keep things sharp
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