Wednesday 10th August 2011 - Grafton Wood

Today TS and I decided to pay a visit to Grafton Wood.  Grafton Wood nature reserve is jointly owned and manged by Butterfly Conservation and the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and is the county's stronghold for the Brown Hairstreak butterfly.....our target species.

The walk around Grafton was very pleasant and (unlike last year when we didn't see any) we saw a Brown Hairstreak along the first ride, feeding on the flowers of Angelica.  In total we saw 4 Brown Hairstreaks during the walk around the wood, 3 of which were feeding on the aforementioned flowers.

Other butterfly species recorded during the walk were 1 Silver-washed Fritillary, 2 Red Admirals, 1 Small Skipper, 2 Common Blues and numerous Speckled Woods, Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns and Small Whites.

The flora of the reserve was abundant with an interesting variety of flowers including:  Bettony, Common Fleabane, Devil's Bit Scabious, Enchanters Nightshade and Hemp Agrimony.

On the final stretch of  the walk we had a bonus of seeing a family of 4+ Spotted Flycatchers in and around the dead oaks.  At one point we even saw an adult food pass to a juvenile in mid-air...what a privilege.

On the walk back from the woods across the fields towards the church we had yet another Brown Hairstreak that flew past from the nearby Blackthorn hedgerow.  What a nice way to end a good day.

For more information about Grafton Wood please click on the below links:

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/text/184/grafton_wood_worcestershire.html

http://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/index.php?section=places%3Areserves&reserveid=367

Brown Hairstreak

Common Blue