Bentley Wood

Such was the case with Bentley Wood.

The attraction of Bentley Wood is meant to be the butterflies, in particular the ‘Purple Emperor’ and ‘Lettered Hairstreak’.

However one does not immediately associate any wood with butterflies and not when the weather is windy, cloudy and showery so we were prepared to expect the worse when we travelled to the reserve in July.

Fortunately the rain held off for most of the time and we even had some sunny spells.

Bentley wood is a mixed wood in the true sense of the word in that it is mixed not only in variety of trees but in their age as well.

The paths are also broad with wide margins at either side so meadow flowers grow in profusion and this together with the low bushes of flowering blackberry greatly encourage butterflies and insects of all varieties.

The presence of old banana skins on the top of the notice board in the car park was our first clue that this was a favourite spot for Purple Emperor butterflies and the second clue was the trodden down bracken around an oak tree at the side.

We had not walked far before we saw our first butterflies and over ninety percent of the species were seen in the first few minutes.

Painted Lady

These included Ringlet, Gatekeeper, Small White, Large white, Speckled Wood, Painted Lady, Brimstone, Peacock, Comma, Red Admiral, Marbled White, Large Skipper, Small Skipper and Silver Washed fritillary.

All these butterflies were present in numbers and we continued to see them all throughout our walk.

You could have walked onto the paths at any point or just stood still and seen all the butterflies.

Eventually we walked slowly further up the path and after about one hundred yards met a group of people from the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.

We walked on a further few steps but were called back as one of their number had seen a Purple Emperor butterfly.

The butterfly was difficult to see at first but was eventually located near the top of a Sallow tree.

Once you have seen the butterfly you wonder how you ever had difficulty in the first place as the size of the butterfly, in this case a female, was huge.

The female Purple Emperor is not purple at all but is an innocuous brown with white markings on the wings and could be mistaken for an old leaf.

We later learnt that all the male Purple Emperors had been seen in the first week of July and all the ones seen since had been females laying their eggs on willow trees.

Having seen one of the two butterflies we had hoped to spot we were more confident of finding the ‘Lettered Hairstreak’; especially as some of our members had seen some previously at a location identified only as ‘between two elm trees’.

Furthermore they had a vague idea of where this spot was so we walked on past two ponds and up towards a crossroads with the idea that the elm trees should be just ahead.

At this point the call of lunch was overwhelming so we stopped at a log bench and ate our sandwiches.

When we had finished and were just about to move on we noticed the members of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society walking towards our intended venue.

There was some doubt as to whether the two elm trees still existed but we all gathered together and searched the area for the elusive butterfly; and searched; and searched; but to no avail, so we all went home.

The next outdoor meeting is to Eyeworth Pond. Meet at the Oak Road car park Dibden Purlieu at 10am on 16th August 2009.

Non members welcome at no charge.

The next indoor meeting is a Members Evening and Quiz night.

Meet at St Andrews Centre, Beaulieu Road, Dibden Purlieu at 7.30pm on 24th August 2009.

Contact the secretary on 023 80893803 for membership details.