The Wanderer

No, I'm not going to break out into the song called Wanderer by Johnny Cash and U2. This is a post about my 2 week holiday away, one week in Wales and then another week in Herefordshire. I will just go through and explain notable places I went as notable things I saw. Enjoy!

Click on any images to enlarge

The first week was spent on the island of Anglesey in Wales. When I found out we (myself, Mum, and Dad) were going to Anglesey for a holiday I must confess I was quite excited as I knew one of my last common British birds could be found on the island. Sure enough on the first day we decided to go to South Stack RSPB to see the Choughs. We got out the car and walked along toward the visitor centre and straight away a couple of birds were up and putting on a display over the heather moorland just beside the impressive cliffs. Brilliant! Chough is British lifer 299! We spent a couple of hours on site, I really like this reserve and can well recommend a visit to anyone thinking of going. We saw 1 definite Silver-studded Blue butterfly, this was a lifer for me.

(Choughs - Andrew Kinghorn)

(Silver-studded Blue - Andrew Kinghorn)

Thankfully where we were staying we were fortunate enough to be near a spot that as it became obvious on a walk was good for Dark Green Fritillary butterflies. I saw quite a few on a walk I was on however I only managed one half decent photograph. Got some good views though, hard butterflies to catch up with and ID. They have this rather annoying habit of flying off at high speed away from you if you get anywhere near!

(Dark Green Fritillary - Andrew Kinghorn)

This Small Copper showed well at the Menai bridge in Wales:

(Small Copper - Menai Bridge, Wales - Andrew Kinghorn)

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Wales and the highlight has to be the Choughs, a bird I had wanted to see for a while but never had the chance. However my next week was spent in Leominster in the county of Herefordshire. Thanks to a mate who found a good site for butterflies I had a simply superb time! Nearly everywhere I went in Herefordshire and Worcester was good for butterflies, living in a northern county there are a lot of butterflies we simply don't get (yet) so it was a pleasure to see some of these 'southern specialities'. So to finish off here is a set of photos of butterfly images I took while on holiday in Herefordshire complete with the site I took the photographs, also I will provide a list of all the species I saw during the 2 weeks away. 

 (Brimstone - Monkwood Nature Reserve, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Comma - Leominster, Herefordshire - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Gatekeeper - Monkwood Nature Reserve, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Green-veined White - Leominster, Herefordshire - Andrew Kinghorn)

  (Green-veined White - Leominster, Herefordshire - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Holly Blue - Monkwood Nature Reserve, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Large White - Leominster, Herefordshire - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Meadow Brown - Monkwood Nature Reserve, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Peacock - Leominster, Herefordshire - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Red Admiral - Leominster, Herefordshire - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Ringlet - Leominster, Herefordshire - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Silver Washed Fritillary - Wyre Forest, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

 (Speckled Wood - Monkwood Nature Reserve, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

(White Admiral - Monkwood Nature Reserve, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

(White Admiral - Monkwood Nature Reserve, Worcester - Andrew Kinghorn)

Here is a complete list of the species of butterfly seen (in no particular order) whilst on holiday for the two weeks:

1. Meadow Brown
2. Ringlet
3. Small Tortoiseshell 
4. Red Admiral
5. Small White
6. Common Blue
7. Dark Green Fritillary 
8. Large White
9. Small Copper
10. White Admiral
11. Peacock
12. Gatekeeper
13. Speckled Wood
14. Brimstone
15. Holly Blue
16. Comma
17. Green-veined White
18. Marbled White
19. Small Skipper
20. Large Skipper
21. Silver Washed Fritillary 

Hope you enjoyed this post, brilliant trip and a one I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Until next time, Foghorn out!