July in Bucknell Wood

July is THE time to look for butterflies in the woodlands of South Northants and Bucknell Wood near Silverstone is one of my favourites locally. This particular July has been pretty dam fruitful. A handful of Purple Emperors have been evident though at times hard to find.

I also have managed to find my first Marbled White for the site in what has been a brilliant year for them locally. I also managed to find my first ever 'Valezina' Silver-Washed Fritillary. This year has also seen decent numbers of both Purple Hairstreak and White Admiral, however I wonder if both are in as good numbers as 2013.

It appears to have certainly been an excellent year for Silver-Washed Fritillaries in Bucknell with seemingly excellent numbers from late June onwards.

Essex Skippers are scarce in Bucknell. I managed to find one particular area last year that held a few and again this year there were several present.

Below are a selection of some of the more commoner species on the wing seen during July of this year in Bucknell:

Bird wise Bucknell has been full of young birds and plenty of warblers, however nothing particularly unusual. It was though good to see Spotted Flycatcher numbers appeared to be in good shape, echoed by a number of fledged youngsters too.