Fordham Woods 9.4.2014

I had a lovely couple of hours at Fordham Woods today, its really a fantastic wood and perhaps one of the most underrated in the area. It is wet to a unique degree, having a marsh like area of woodland and the river Snail running through it too, and on this bright spring day there was a cacophony of bird song, a tranquil patchwork of shade amongst the bright green of the new nettle growth, and water beetles zooming around in the shimmering clear river. 

There are Marsh Marigolds in the wet part of the wood, just emerged Cuckoo flowers being visited by Orange-tip butterflies and Bee flies in the drier wood, and many a butterfly aerial battle along the river bank. I also saw, a personal first, the impossibly alive blue of a Kingfisher at the edge of the wood, something I'll never forget. 

I saw 8 species of Butterfly, which is hopefully a sign the good summer last year can be built upon this summer. 

Butterfly species seen - 

Brimstone (males and females) c.30
Orange-tip (males and females) c.20
Peacock c.15
Comma c.10
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Holly Blue 1
Speckled Wood 1
Red Admiral 1

Sloe Bug

Bee Fly

Orange-tip m

Eupeodes corollae Hoverfly

Peacock

Cuckoo Flower

Orange-tip f