Ian Short

The best location for butterflies near where I live is Salcey Forest in Northamptonshire, managed by Forestry England. It’s an ancient woodland and former royal hunting ground with area about one square mile. In the middle is an estate and some cultivated land, which Forestry England should really buy up and convert to woodland.

Salcey Forest is known for rare butterflies including wood whites, purple emperors, and black hairstreaks. We visited in July hoping to see purple emperors and white admirals, possibly black hairstreaks, and whatever else (not the right time of year for wood whites). Here’s the route we took from the main car park.

Butterflies were out in abundance following weeks of sunshine. Lots of gatekeepers, meadow browns, red admirals, peacocks, and small and large whites. I see them in my own garden, so I was less interested in them. We spotted several silver-washed fritillaries along the way. They move fast and I couldn’t photograph them. We also saw plenty of hairstreaks. Some were white hairstreaks; some may have been black hairstreaks, I couldn’t tell. Most were flying above my head and didn’t settle.

Beyond the Horse box car park a huge butterfly swooped by, a purple emperor. A little later, while pursuing a silver-washed fritillary, we saw a ragged one besides the bike path.

It accompanied us for a while, and led us to a white admiral, which to me looks like a smaller relative, although perhaps not from this shot.

Successful trip! My favourite are the oak trees; I love their canopies.

Back in Woburn Sands I counted 30–40 swifts. They’ll be gone before July is out. They arrived remarkably early this year – I forget when it was exactly – mid April I think.

It has also been an incredible year for painted ladies. I saw hundreds in Suffolk in May, and there are many scattered around my local area.