Considering it was a Bank Holiday the weather was pretty good! So we made a picnic and Ellie and I headed off for another new location and another hunt for some butterflies. We drove out past Ilminster and on towards Taunton before heading to West Hatch and to Thurlbear Quarrylands, a Butterfly Conservation reserve.
Being such a lovely day there was plenty of bird song, and before long I had heard several Chiffchaffs and Garden Warblers and had good views of both. However, it was the butterflies we were after here, and before long we found several Common Blues, both male:
And a couple of females:
We also saw a couple of Green-veined Whites and both Grizzled Skipper:
And Dingy Skipper (which really lived up to its name!):
We then drove about five miles down the road to Staple Fitzpaine and on down a narrow road to another Butterfly Conservation at Mount Fancy. We had a good walk about here, hearing several Willow Warblers but seeing few birds and also less butterflies than at Thurlbear Quarrylands, but we did see a few and some different species too.
At the northern end of the reserve we saw a pair of Orange Tips and another Green-veined White:
We also saw a Green Hairstreak and a Small Copper. After a great few hours we headed off.
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