On today’s wildlife walk one of our lovely guests, staying at Honeysuckle Lodge, said she’d never seen so many butterflies outside of a butterfly farm. That’s a good thing to hear! The fields are a-flutter at the moment that’s for sure. Ringlets (main picture above) have emerged en-masse recently but there are several other species out and about at the moment. You’ll definitely see Meadow Brown everywhere you look in the lodge field and below Balebarn. The little orange energetic ones are mostly Large Skippers. Then there are a few Small Tortoiseshell (just emerging), some Red Admirals, the Small and Large Whites and the shade loving Speckled Wood.
If you’re lucky you might also spot a small copper or a green hairstreak (it’s getting to the end of their flight period now though), a gatekeeper or a common blue (sadly not so common now). Or you might see a large orange ‘something’ flitting fast along the edge of the trees, probably a fritillary of some kind. If only they would stay still long enough to watch properly! Here are a few more images of butterflies you might see at Wheatland Farm around now. At other times of the year, other species are on the wing.
This time last year: A rainy Devon day