A trip to Hutchinsons Bank

Pete

Jun 6

Due to unforeseen circumstances and the rail strike my trip to Portland didn't happen. Still, I was determined to make the most of the freed time, so Sue and I along with Jasper our dog visited the LWT reserve at Hutchinsons Bank in New Addington. This is an exceptional place as almost 75% of the UK's butterfly species have been recorded here.

We entered through the cutting and soon had our first, and as it turned out only, sighting of marsh Fritillary. It rested on the path briefly before moving on, never staying long enough for me to get a photo.

Marsh Fritillary (Photo by Paul Ritchie - https://www.flickr.com/photos/thelizardwizard/)

Moving on we briefly saw a single Glanville Fritillary, together with Speckled Woods and Holly Blues

Speckled Wood

Passing between the upper and lower fields we saw a Brown Argus and more Holly Blues and Small Heaths. Reaching Featherbed Lane we retraced our tracks along the lower path. Here we had a number of Glanville Fritillaries, a couple of Small Blues, 6+Brimstones, a Red Admiral, a Peacock and a few Small Heaths

Further along the path, we spotted this trackway leading from the fields across the path and on the other side towards Featherbed Lane. what had made it? - Fox, Badger?

There has been quite a bit of discussion this week about the sudden appearance of a small group of Black-veined Whites, a species that went extinct in this country in the 1920s. Are they true migrants or are they releases? I will leave that to someone more qualified to decide, but it looked like we were not going to be lucky enough to see one when Sue spotted a White butterfly in one of the fields and looking at it through the binoculars I could make out the clear black-veins on its wing.

Black-veined White (Photo by Charlie Jackson - https://www.flickr.com/photos/chaz_pics/)

Our final species for the day was a single Common Blue, just before we reached the reserve entrance, bringing us to 12 species of butterfly in a couple of hours.