Worcestershire Brown Hairstreaks

Further sightings were reported yesterday with the first Brownies - two males - being sighted in a known assembly tree in the garden of one of our local champions. Sightings in this particular tree, being in a garden and therefore obviously closely scrutinised at this time of year, usually herald the start of the season in Worcs.

I went to Grafton yesterday - unfortunately minus binoculars - but was fairly certain I saw a number of Brownies, along with some Purple Hairstreaks, flying high in some scrub on the edge of the wood.

One thing to please note this year, if you're intending to visit Grafton Wood - the farmer who owns the land immediately to the west of the wood - ie land containing the Orchard and adjoining hedgerows - has politely requested that people keep to the public rights-of-way and not trespass onto his land. As I'm sure you will all understand, it is very much in our interests to keep him happy, so could I please ask everyone to respect this request and keep within the bounds of the wood, all of which is publicly accessible. Last year, the best area for sightings was at the pond which is within the wood itself on the west side, towards the north. A map showing the location of this pond is displayed both near the car park at Grafton Church (just before entering the farmyard) and at the main entrance to the wood. Thank you very much.

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