☁️21C
Saturday 23rd June 2018 ~
Harbury Spoilbank: Created from the construction of the Leamington to Oxford railway in the 1840s, the lias clay spoil banks now host a species-rich grassland dotted with cowslip, early forget-me-not and hairy violet, with wild strawberry, yellow-wort and hoary plantain.
The primary reason for today's visit ~ Dark-green Fritillary Butterflies.
After my short break this week I hadn't actually planned to do much this weekend but a phone call from Jim Timms Saturday afternoon changed my plans.
 |
| Dark-green Fritillary ~ Harbury Spoilbank |
Jim was telling me about some
Dark-green Fritillary butterflies he'd just been photographing at the relatively nearby Harbury Spoilbank, a small nature reserve managed by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. As I had a little food shopping to complete in Southam the reserve is only a further 10-minutes drive.
 |
| Dark-green Fritillary |
By the time I arrived the sun had in fact disappeared due to some high cloud but butterflies were still on the wing and thankfully I managed at least six
Dark-green Fritillary. There was also a good population of
Marbled White, along with
Meadow Brown,
Small Tortoiseshell,
Small Skipper and my first
Six-spot Burnet Moths of the year.
 |
| Six-spot Burnet |
 |
| Dark-green Fritillary |
