Our Meet on the 26th July 2015 was the wettest we have encountered for a long time.
Everyone was soaked - but at least it was warm.
The rain did not last the whole day, with rainwater sinking quickly into the dry ground - and no flooding occurred. Wildlife was all the more abundant as a result. During rain, butterflies drop down low under the stalks of long grasses and other meadow and hedgerow plants where the shelter, wings folded, until the rain ceases and sunlight filters through, warming the earth.
On 2nd August a large number of fresh Peacock butterflies were
seen, most on the wild field, just across the river from where
we had seen Peacock caterpillars on the river bank nettles
some weeks before.
They were in the company of many other butterflies -
see the Hills Farm Wildlife Conservation record
for 7th August.
Fleabane, a wild flower which flourishes on damp meadows and marshes
is doing well this summer and is a great attraction to butterflies, as are
the thistle flowers.
