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| Horsefly habitat © Richard Smith |
We convened in Culverley car park,
near Beaulieu, on a cooler day compared to recent extremes.
Setting off down a bank we paused a
while on a little bridge over a quiet stream, admiring the flashes of
fluttering colour from the Holly Blue, Gatekeeper and Beautiful Demoiselle damselflies.
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| Holly Blue © Sue Skarstein |
A path through the trees revealed
glimpses of Spotted Flycatcher, Chaffinch Song Thrush and a immature Blackcap
with the calling of distant Stock Dove heard. We also identified Common Cow-wheat,
Wood Sorrel and Purple Loosestrife. |
| Blackcap - immature © Chris Robinson |
Passing through open areas we saw
Mistle Thrush and, circumventing cattle sheltering in an oasis of shade, made
our way into Tantany Wood, finding Redstart, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper,
Wren and several sightings again of Spotted Flycatchers.
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| Woodland Grasshopper © Andy Skarstein |
Speckled Wood butterfly greeted us
with their spiralling dances as we picked our way among the old Oaks, Beeches
and many fallen trees, breaking out finally into more open areas of Bracken, heather
and cottongrass of Halfpenny Green. |
| Silver-studded Blue - female © Chris Robinson |
We found Dwarf Gorse and Coral
Necklace and Round-leaved Sundew where once it would have been wetter, a couple
of Common and Silver-studded Blue butterflies and a Dark Giant Horsefly.
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| Dwarf Gorse with Ling © Chris Robinson |
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| Coral Necklace © Richard Smith |
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| Dark Giant Horsefly © Andy Skarstein |
On nearing the car park we came
across the charred remains of a fire which, thankfully, had not caused the
catastrophic destruction of all the beauty that we had just walked through. R&GP
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Our route
© Crown copyright 2022 Ordnance Survey. Media 005/22.
The licence is valid until 31 December 2022. |
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