Duke of Burgundy

Well at least the month started on the right footing with pleasant weather for my first trip out of the county for some time looking for butterflies and whatever else came our way.

We decided on Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire because of its variety and the chance of Duke of Burgundy and arrived at the National Trust reserve 3 miles northeast of Tring late morning. Unfortunately further south had more cloud than we anticipated so not as fruitful as we hoped so we kept away from the cold breeze on the chalk land and concentrated on the scrub clearings and managed to find our target species with two located.

Final butterfly count was poor with 2 Duke of Burgundy, 2 Small Heath, Green-veined White, 2 Large White, Speckled Wood, Brimstone and Dingy Skipper in two hours of searching. Our search also produced 6 Common Carpet and Burnet Companion while on the birding front we had 2 Red Kite, Buzzard, Raven and many Garden Warblers and Blackcaps.

Duke of Burgundy fritillary

We called in on College Lake on our way home but nothing special of note just a few nesting Common Tern, Redshank and Lapwing plus a single Little Ringed Plover. Large Red and Common Blue Damselfly present.

A Cuckoo flew across the road near Wilstone Reservoir and 6 more Red Kite near Stoke Mandeville while a Hobby flew over the garden this evening.