Last Sunday saw our long-standing and valued volunteer John leading a group of 14 on his ‘Peregrines and Butterflies’ guided walk – thanks John! As well as having a good turn-out, the weather was glorious and the ever-popular butterflies were there for all to see - Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper, Large Skipper and Small Tortoiseshell all caught and seen up-close (then let go of course!).
Not to be outdone, a Common Blue damsel fly and a nice Cinnabar Moth put in an appearance too. In fact only yesterday I saw Cinnabar Moth caterpillars on their Ragwort foodplant at Binn Green car park – always a good spot for these so look out for them when you’re next there!
As for the Peregrines, one was perched on the Quarry as the walkers arrived, followed by some great aerial views of mother and young chasing and exchanging prey - sadly this happened just as most of the walkers had left! But I guess that’s the nature of nature – not always there on demand but often experienced with perseverance and well worth waiting for Thanks to Stephen Burke for these great photos!
Don’t forget to take part in Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count which runs from Saturday 20th July to Sunday 11th August - simply record and report the butterflies you see in your garden, your local park or another green space – for more info see http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/. And if you want to find out how to do Butterfly Surveys why not check out our events page for next Saturday 27th July!