Hello my friends,

One of the loveliest things about being a member of the Cornwall branch for Butterfly Conservation is that every year they host field trips all over the county and now that I’ve got my wheels I can pack up a lunch and head off into the wild with my fellow bug freaks whenever the feeling takes me (normal life things not withstanding!!)!

All of the trips look for specific butterflies, some that like woodland, or meadows or in the case of my recent trip to Penhale sands open grasslands.

Penhale sands (near to Perranporth, the best beach in the world) is owned by the MOD and Cornwall Wildlife trust its an amazing site that spans a whopping 620 hectares with Atlantic facing sand dunes and grasslands, the area is classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Its a place you can only go with an invitation and I always get rather excited when I get the chance to visit and I thought why not take you with me while I hunt for pretty butterflies!

Ready?

Lets go…

The trip started slightly overcast and our amazing guide Wildlife Trust ranger John Cripps was so good at lifting everyones spirits – butterflies are cold blooded and need the sun to warm up their flight muscles, so on a grey afternoon you aren’t likely to see that many. Thankfully by the time we had decanted into a smaller number of cars it had brightened up into a lovely morning.

Penhale sands is stunning, its all sand dunes and grassland with mini lakes. Since I went last they’ve installed ‘heat traps’ – pieces of corrugated iron that snakes and slow worms congregate under to keep warm (they don’t actually trap the animals). Under one of these pieces of iron was this beautiful Common lizard, I’ve never seen one so I was kinds mesmerised by it!

The trip had two objectives, the first being the Dingy skipper, which think it a really unfair name as its rather pretty – I’ve only ever seen it once also at Penhale, the photo I took of it last time was awful so I’m thrilled to have taken (what is in my opinion) a banging photo!

Dingy skipper is tiny and only has a 29mm wingspan, because of this they look like little brown moths!

I also managed to get a couple of cute photos of Brown Argus, another tiny butterfly that also has a 29mm wingspan and looks really similar to the female Common blue.

I’ve never actually been able to snap a photo of Brown argus with its wings open, so that was pretty cool, this particular individual looked so fresh and perfect!

One of the things I find fascinating about Penhale is that its actively used for military training drills by the MOD. Its partly owned by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust and MOD and is also cared for by several different organisations including Perran Sands holiday park (wonderful place for a holiday), Perranzabuloe Parish Council, the local golf club and St Pirans Trust (who own the ancient monuments – St Pirans Oratory and Church). Its great that so many organisations are all happy to do their bit to protect such an amazing habitat.

Its surreal to be able to walk through a field with yellow flag iris to one side and used smoke grenades on the other. There are also many used ammunition rounds which we were repeatedly told not to touch!!

There were so many Common blue! I love these little guys when they visit the garden the never seem to land more than half a second and I’m genuinely never quick enough to take their photo!

Theres something magical about that blue colour.

The main event for the whole trip was the possibility of seeing Grizzled skipper, another teeny butterfly with a wingspan of just 27mm! These little black and white checkered fellows are only found on Penhale sands in the whole of Cornwall, so the conservation of these tiny creatures is taken very seriously.

I was overjoyed to see one for the first time!

Actually it was really cute, someone spotted this little butterfly sat on a branch and basically everyone tiptoed past it in single file so as not to disturb it before we all had a chance to see it!

Isn’t it pretty!

So yeah, that’s it for this week, lets be honest next weeks post is gonna be a new embroidered butterfly or maybe even two!! 

Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a very happy week ahead!