Oversley wood and Deans Green Meadow Butterflies july 10th 2011

Way back in the summer i went on a trip down to Oversley wood near Alcester ,  Hoping to see a couple more Purple emperor butterflies , but i don't think any had been seen in the preceding week!  There are plenty of silver washed fritillarys , and as i had never managed a decent shot of this species at least i would have a good day !


As i arrived in the car park, guess who had just arrived ?  Gillian .she had not said she was going,  so i had good company for the day:)

Here is the info board in the car park.

The weather was perfect, warm ,sunny calm  but there were very few butterflies of any species showing which was very odd and  disappointing.  the silver washed fritillarys were flying but not in good numbers!  after walking halfway around the circular path that runs all way around the wood we found two pairs of silver washed  almost simultaneously!   chasing them around was good fun!  eventually i managed to get close to a pair and they climbed onto a branch i was holding, unfortunately my feet were entangled in brambles again, seems to happen alot to me!   and i could not move. Gill took a few shots of the pair and i managed 2 frames single handed before they flew off again!

After another half an hour chasing them, We gave up!!!

In the oak trees behind where i shot this image there were a few Purple hairstreak butterflies,  i took this long shot with 70-300 lens before Gill decided to try to shake them out of the tree! Which unsurprisingly Didn't work!  they just flew higher up!!!!!! lol

Along the edges of the path i found quite a few longhorn beetles and ladybirds on the wild flowers.

Shot with 100mmL macro

Shot with mpe-65 macro lens

I then managed a few Silver Washed Fritillary shots, but could not get a good background!

A male

 and a female

We made it to about half way around the circular path seeing very few butterflies, until finding a holly blue feeding on dung on the path!   i managed one not very good shot before it flew off!   they have a habit of doing that! lol

On the way back to the car park, i found a beautiful Peacock !

WE then decided it was not worth going any further, Gill asked if i would like to go to Snitterfield bushes and then Deans Green Meadow which are not too far away.  sounded like a good plan to me, new sites are always good to visit!.

Unfortunately at Snitterfield  we saw virtually nothing, one fleeting glimpse of a white admiral and nothing else!  so of to deans green which is near Henley-in-Arden  next where large numbers of Marbled Whites are to be found!

Deans green was amazing site!  thousands of bush crickets and grasshoppers everywhere!  Meadow browns, gatekeepers and Marbled whites in extremely good numbers.

Here is a gatekeeper feeding on a thistle flower.

And a Marbled white,which are rapidly becoming one of my favorite species :)

Here is Gillian shooting grasshoppers !   note her technique resting lens on the knee while holding grass stem in hand to keep stem steady!       a true pro !   :)

and here is a shot of an adult Roesel's  bush cricket  macropterous form (long-winged). , first time i have seen this species, really striking colouration!

And a sub adult with its large wing buds!

And another Marbled white, really like the light in this image!

Here is a female wings open shot!

That was the end of another really enjoyable adventure!

all images shot with canon 5d2, 100mmL macro lens, mpe-65 macro lens and 70-300 is zoom.