Bentley Wood - 11 July

Highlights were White Admiral, Silver-washed Fritillary and Marbled White.

We met at the fairly secluded car park in a glade in this wonderful woodland. The weather had been cool and wet for the past few days, but today was little different, but it was a little warmer.
I have not seen this wood with so few butterflies before. We were part of the way down the first track before we saw our first butterflies, a couple of Painted Lady, Ringlets and a Large Skipper. We had a look at the flowers growing here too. Tufted Vetch, Meadowsweet, Agrimony, Common Valerian and Betony. We heard Coal Tit and Goldcrest and saw a Common Wainscot moth. A Crossbill flew over, but we couldn’t see it! We walked on to the crossroads seeing a few more Ringlet and Painted Lady on the way. We were almost there when Dennis spotted a White Admiral on the path in front of us, which we were able to pick up and examine in close detail! While admiring the Hemp Agrimony and Enchanters Nightshade here we saw our first Silver-washed Fritillary on Bramble flowers.
Further on we saw some Common Gromwell flowering and a couple of Green-veined White. Near the information hut there were many Painted Lady, some Ringlet and a few Cinnabar moth caterpillars on Ragwort. We got distant views of a Fallow Deer when we came out to the woodland edge and saw a Silver Y moth soon afterwards. In a more open grassy area we saw a few Meadow Brown and Essex Skipper, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and heard a flock of Crossbill fly over. By the end of the walk we had added a second White Admiral and seen several Marbled White and a Speckled Wood – not bad for such poor weather.
Simon Curson