This roughly 2 mile stretch of old railway bed is a fantastically wildlife-rich stretch of rough grassland and scrub. It is also in the process of being further improved by the landowner. It was really refreshing speaking with him the other day and hearing his enthusiasm and eagerness to improve the site for wildlife
I never see anything too outrageous there, however the sheer number of butterflies, bees, birds etc always makes it a worthwhile walk. Marbled Whites are the star of the show with probably hundreds along the entire stretch when at their peak. Last weekend, their numbers were unfortunately diminishing, however there were still a good 30-40 ghosting over the grassland.
There were tonnes of Small & Essex Skippers, in their hundreds I should think. There was barely a patch of grass that didn't have several roosting or buzzing about.
I've seen a few Painted Lady here over the past couple of years, always along the same stretch. On Monday, I located another pristine one, feeding on thistles.
There was a good variety of several other species about too, including my first ever Small Copper here, a couple of second brood Brown Argus and several Common Blues.
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