Tuesday 14 April 2015

Cowslips, Speckled Wood and Redstarts - All in a Trip to the Hospital

On Monday my wife had a hospital appointment so I had a little wander around the area known as Worcester Woods Country Park. It is an area of woodland and meadows surrounded by roads and the ever growing suburbia of Worcester.

Welcome to Worcester Woods Country Park


It was a warm sunny spring afternoon and I had a short walk around the meadows. It was not long before I spotted some Cowslips, I think they are such beautiful little flowers. These were also the first Cowslip flowers I had seen this year. They only grow in open grassland and I am pleased that these meadows have 100's of them. They provide a good food source for many bees and flies, which were out in large numbers today. But they are also the larval host for the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly. Unfortunately, this was not seen, we can but hope!

Cowslip

When I came across a large nettle patch I was amazed to see 15 Small Tortoiseshells. They are a common butterfly but have experienced a decline of 65% since 1995. Seeing this many in one spot is reassuring and it also highlights the importance of nettle patches as they are vital for the health of our butterflies. Small Tortoiseshells are one of many butterfly species that use nettles as a larval host. They are often one of the first species of Butterfly to be seen each year. This is as a result of them overwintering in adult form, often in sheds and garages, emerging on the first warm days of spring. I saw my first in early March.


Small Tortiseshell

Whilst I have seen plenty of Small Tortoiseshell's this year I did have a butterfly first on my trip. It was a Speckled wood. Unlike the small tortoiseshell, they do not overwinter as an adult, but rather uniquely as both a larva and pupa. The one I saw would have over wintered as a pupa and hatched in the warm weather that we were having. They tend to favour woodlands but due to the close proximity to the woodland I was not surprised to see them in the meadow's.


Speckled Wood


Speckled Wood


The real highlight of the trip, apart from my wife returning successfully from her operation, was a redstart. This bird will have been on migration from its wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa to northern Britain where it breeds in Oak woodlands. Sightings in Worcester are quite rare and confined to spring and autumn when is is migrating. They, like many species are in long term decline, but the Redstart's statistics are not as bad as some species and in recent years there has been a slight increase, there are currently 100,000 pairs breeding. 


Redstart 





The Playing Field