October 2014

Autumn is upon us, we have seen plenty of late birds and butterflies. It is a good year for berries; Rosehips and Haws are looking bright in hedgerows. Old Man’s Beard or Travellers Joy, an alternative name for the attractive seed heads of Clematis, swamps hedgerows.
Grey Squirrels and Jays have been seen frequently in the roads under Oak trees; hungry for acorns, they stash them away for the winter. 

It has been a good year for Clouded Yellows, Bindon Hill, Dungy Head, and Durdle Door have provided good sightings. Several times on Bindon we have seen a helice Clouded Yellow, Pale Clouded Yellow or a Berger’s Clouded Yellow female. The helice is a pale coloured female form, the latter two are very rare migrants to the British Isles, and it is virtually impossible to distinguish between these three butterflies on the wing. Without the butterfly landing and an identification book to hand, we cannot be certain about what we saw. Other butterflies seen are Red Admiral and Speckled Wood butterflies. 

Always a spectacle for young students on their Geography field trips are Fox Moth Caterpillars. Hambury Tout is the best place to see these black and orange long-haired species this time of year, taking advantage of the mild weather before hunkering down for the winter.

We have chosen Devil’s-bit Scabious which is still in flower on Bindon; darker in colour than other Scabious species and has pincushion-like flower heads, these flower from July – October.