Greenscoombe Woods

Yesterday was the start of my weekend and so on thursday night I decided to come back to Somerset as I haven't been here for a while. On the way, after work, I decided to pop into a renowned site in East Cornwall called Greenscoombe Woods, near Luckett. The area is part of the Duchy of Cornwall's Greenscoombe Valley plantation and is leased from the Duchy by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. It consists of mostly broadleaved woodland and old hazel coppice in which clearings are maintained to encourage butterflies.

During the summer over 20 species of butterfly can be seen, including 6 of the the 10 species of British fritillaries. This was the reason I wanted to visit the site, as one of those fritillaries is one of the rarest butterflies in the country - the Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia). This butterfly is found in only a few sites in Cornwall, Devon and Kent, with a small re-introduction scheme at a site in Essex. It was on the brink of extinction in the 1970's but it was the extinction of another butterfly, the Large Blue (Maculinea arion), that led to a renewed effort to conserve this species due to the shock felt by entomologists at the loss of a British species.

Whilst wandering around the site the work undertaken at the reserve was obvious to see, huge areas of under-storey cleared to allow the encroachment of bramble - the favoured food-plant of the Heath Fritillary imago. For over an hour I spent walking the trails, hoping to find a fritillary..... the weather wasn't great, clouds, a cold breeze and the light was starting to go. I got round a corner and had a choice, take the left path and head back to the car, or go up the hill to the right..... looking up the hill, there was a small patch that was bathed in the last of the sunlight and I hoped that it would be where my search would come to an end..... walking up, the clouds came across and everything went really dull.... I'd had it surely... but a thin beam of light broke through onto one bush 10 yards from me and I saw a flicker of movement, looking hard at the spot I couldn't see anything so I crept forward..... inch by inch, eyes constantly looking at every leaf until finally, perched right out in the open, two Heath Fritillaries nectaring on the brambles.

Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia)

Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia) underwing

 The sun decided to show itself and for 15 minutes, I took photo after photo and amazingly they just sat there not bothered at all, giving me a great opportunity to look at the detail of the underwing (which is usually the easiest way to tell fritillaries apart... they can be pretty similar on the top of the wings). Whilst I was there, a man walked up to me to ask what I was looking at.... he was a local, and hadn't seen the fritillaries before despite looking for them for the last 5 years, so I showed him and we watched them for another few minutes before he asked me if I'd like to see a reather special orchid... a Lesser Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha).

Lesser Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha)

It is quite a well spread species, found across the majority of the UK, but they are only found in low densities. We walked up to the top of the hill and got to a hay meadow area and there dotted across the fields were the orchids, their delicate white flowers glowing in the evening sun. Smelling the flowers you get a quite strange aroma, one that I can only describe as a mixture between aniseed and vanilla, a very pleasant sweet smell. I'm not entirely sure why it is called a 'butterfly' orchid, the flowers could suggest a winged insect, but butterfly wouldn't spring to mind to be honest. But still, an elegant plant all the same. All in all the trip to the site was well worth it, a great place and I'll be sure to go back at some point and try again for the frits. But this weekend there is another butterfly that I'm hoping to catch up with here in Somerset, the weather isn't looking good for it, but I'll give it a go....... check back soon and see if I do catch up with it!