The White Admiral to my mind, is the most attractive and charming of our native butterflies.Nowhere here are they common, nor anywhere else for that matter as most of our butterfly species are in severe decline and it is only by being protected on reserves such as this one that they are able to make a stand for survival.
Today I found a bramble in flower, at the far end of the reserve which accesses Bernwood Forest through another discrete metal gate.It is early in the season and the admirals are in perfect condition, their emergence precipitated by the welcome onset of this warm dry spell.The priority for the emerging buttterflies is to fuel up on nectar which I found one in the act of doing this morning by the sun baked track that runs betwixt meadow and forest, probing into the delicate pink flowers of the bramble, fluttering from flower to flower searching for the life sustaining nectar.
It is however the unrivalled gracefulness of their flight that transcends and puts it in such a special place.It flies as if there is no effort required, propelled with the quickest flick of wings into long glides through the twigs and branches of the forest edge, changing direction with bewildering ease, it floats in the dappled shade as if disembodied.
I watched this particular admiral for some time as it examined each flower with great diligence until eventually it was replete.It fluttered to a horizontal spray of bramble, perching there with splayed wings absorbing the sunshine, 'pancaking' as it is called. A rather crude description for such a graceful insect.
For minutes it never moved but then took to the air and with a casual flick of its wings crossed the track I before me and glided into the green, sun dappled reaches of the forest and was gone.
With the departure of the White Admiral my attention turned to the Black Hairstreak, an altogether different proposition. Tiny, no more than the size of a thumbnail they inhabit the high hedges of blackthorn that circumvent the meadow.
To see one requires supreme patience for they show a predilection for the thickest parts of the blackthorn where the small, glossed and hard leaves are at their most prolific.The secret is to wait until one flies, often only a very brief flutter and hope that it flies downwards to settle on a leaf rather, than seems to be more often the case, flutter up to the top of the hedge or even over it into invisibility.
For the most part they imbibe honeydew from the blackthorn leaves but occasionally are tempted to nectar on the bramble flowers that grow sparsely within the fastness of the blackthorn.This provides the opportunity that often can take hours to realise.
But the trial of will is worth it for the satisfaction of discovering for oneself one of the rarest and most elusive butterflies in Britain, its mouse brown wings decorated with an orange band and row of black spots on the hindwing.Look very carefully and you will see the thin white line that gives the insect its name ( hairstreak) and that runs as a haphazard scribble down the wings.
I stood alone by the blackthorn for almost an hour before one showed itself briefly but frustratingly flew high up into one of the surrounding oaks. I saw three more but just for moments and only one granted an unrestricted view and that for less than a minute before disappearing. They have a very short flying season and soon it will be all over for another year. So I considered myself fortunate to see this one
For the most part I was on my own. Departing my world and entering an altogether different one of nature. It's no hardship to be on one's own communing with the natural world. I have, often unwittingly, been doing it all my life and now great store is set on getting out into the natural world for one's mental well being.
Sometimes there come others with the same motive, to stand and stare at the blackthorn and wait to see a Black Hairstreak. Fellow enthusiasts they may be but it is never quite the same idyll, the spell is broken and I feel something has been lost. It is not that I am hostile and will happily chat wth another if they wish to speak but for me the desire is to be without distraction or diversion.
It is difficult to find anywhere in this crowded country to be entirely alone so when the opportunity presents itself it is to be treasured.
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