Cotswold Weekend - 9th and 10th June

We spent the weekend at our cottage in Cowley in the Cotswolds with our good friends Trevor and Julie Codlin. Trevor and I ran the moth trap on both Friday and Saturday night recording a good range of spring and early summer species. On Sunday we headed out looking for butterflies. First we visited Daneway Banks Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Reserve where we had reasonable views of recently emerged Large Blue. Speaking to a chap who we met at the reserve who worked on the Large Blue Recovery Project it would appear that the peak count of Large Blue at this site has been 63, we were perhaps a week or two early for such large numbers.

Large Blue - Daneway Banks GWT Reserve

Large Blue - Daneway Banks GWT Reserve

Common Blue - Daneway Banks GWT Reserve

Daneway Banks GWT Reserve - We found our first Large Blue in the far area of grassland in this image

We then headed for Three Groves Wood GWT Reserve only a few miles away but it seemed like an eternity as we weaved through the narrow Cotswold Lanes. The main target here was Marsh Fritillary and we soon found up to 13 of these beautiful insects as they fed on the numerous yellow composites flowering in the grassland.

Marsh Fritillary - Grove Wood GWT Nature Reserve

Marsh Fritillary - Grove Wood GWT Nature Reserve

Lesser Butterfly Orchid - Grove Wood GWT Nature Reserve

Lesser Butterfly Orchid - Grove Wood GWT Nature Reserve

Ghost Swift - Cowley, Cheltenham

Clay Triple-lines- Cowley, Cheltenham

Ingrailed Clay- Cowley, Cheltenham

Grass Rivulet - Cowley, Cheltenham

Pale Tussock - Cowley, Cheltenham

Small Angle Shades - Cowley, Cheltenham

Reddish Light Arches - Cowley, Cheltenham

Shoulder-striped Wainscot - Cowley, Cheltenham

Buff Ermine showing variation in colour and markings - Cowley, Cheltenham

Dot Moth- Cowley, Cheltenham

Iron Prominent - Cowley, Cheltenham

Iron Prominent - Cowley, Cheltenham

Green Silver-lines - Cowley, Cheltenham