No Sleeping In Beds

 I joined Alan Shorrock and Phil Rogers for an out of county sortie to Bedfordshire in search of some of the scarcer butterflies. Unlike those uncooperative Chequered Skippers from Fineshade today's targets for the most part decided to play ball. Although the breeze was pretty strong and there was also an unwelcome but mercifully short cloudy spell for the most part the weather was warm and sunny making me wish that I'd put some sun cream on!

Corn Bunting and Dingy Skipper

We began at Totternhoe which is a chalky grass and scrubby area on the site of an old quarry. It's known for its populations of Duke of Burgundy Fritillaries and Small Blues and it was the hope of seeing these that drew us there. Both were formerly residents of Northamptonshire but our Dukes disappeared in the last millennium while the blues' demise was more recent. Our first interesting sighting was not a butterfly but a bird, a Corn Bunting was heard and then seen, there were at least two on site. A Dingy Skipper on the path to the quarry was my first of the year, I saw about half a dozen in total during my visit. Alan then found a Small Blue which posed for some pictures, we saw at least two more along the same stretch of path.

Duke of Burgundy

We reached the quarry just as the cloud cover increased and things started to look a little challenging. A few Brimstones were noted and Phil found a Small Heath hunkering down in the grass but butterflies were few in number. Two other lepers that we met shared the news that they had just seen at least four Dukes at the bottom of the quarry. Armed with this encouraging information we headed off in that direction. Soon we found ourselves in the august company of several Dukes which obliged us by posing for plenty of pictures. Leaving them behind we scaled the steep slopes as we headed back towards the car park. Arriving at the top of the quarry we were met by another Duke and also my first Common Blue of the year. There was not much else to report from here and we headed off for a pint and a spot of lunch at the White Horse near Woburn.

Small Blue

On the way home we made a brief stop at Salcey Forest hoping that we might find a Wood White or two. Sadly the Wood Whites mirrored the elusive behaviour of yesterday's skippers and we didn't see any. With little else on offer we upped sticks and headed back to Corby.

Common Blue and Small Heath