Category: Plants
Tower of moss, New Forest
Hutchinson’s Bank butterflies
On Saturday (9th June 2012) London Wildlife Trust and the Old Surrey Downs Project held the annual Hutchinson’s Bank open day. With the Heritage Lottery Funded From Thorn to Orchid Project, Hutchinson’s Bank has been managed instensively by both local and travelling volunteers over the past 12 months to remove the encroaching scrub of young trees which, if left unchecked, will shade-out the foodplants of a diverse array of butterflies. Here are some of the butterflies encountered on the day, many of which will thrive thanks to the ongoing management of the 35 acre reserve. The small blue and dingy skipper are two butterflies suffering severe declines nationally.
Small blue (Cupido minimus)
Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)
Green hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)
Dingy skipper (Erynnis tages)
Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)
Common blue (Polyommatus icarus)
Man orchid
This is an endangered species
Greater butterfly orchid
Swifts screeching
Swifts spread across
the sky and stop,
part starfish
brought by a retreating
surf, pigeons bolting
from a setting,
behind cloud.
Always, always,
the world is a
painting.
I listen to the tits
pleading from the nest
box, one bird out
and the other bird
in, a single note
between them.
Hawthorn flowers
are a tree lit
by snow in the
middle of May,
but is spring or
winter late?
I worry that the
old tree is dying,
that a part
of my youth might
not outlive me.
Happiness is the sound
of swifts screeching,
the migrants testing
the evening,
spring’s ending
brought on
by the declining
surf of sky,
or sea?
Kew
Set: Broadwater Lake
Broadwater Lake is situated in the Mid-Colne Valley a Sight of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the lake is managed by Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust. This is one of a number of nature reserves in England which is set to be developed for High Speed Rail 2. For more information please follow this link to the Wildlife Trusts’ website.
Sparklie Wood
Wood anemone
Unlocking Landscapes 