Today, I found myself driven to find a meadow type landscape in search of butterflies and so it was Devon Wildlife Trusts site The Rough I turned to. Mainly due to lack of travelling distance but also, I had not visited for a while and was curious to see how it had developed. Surrounded by Beech trees and an understory of Hazel with views across the Otter valley it has the potential to offer a lot.
WOW.....what an entemological bonanza!!! my head was spinning faster than Peter Mandelson! All around me were Painted Ladies, Wood whites and Meadow Browns intermingled with Common Blue, Small Copper, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies and probably more but I could not keep up!
On top of this were copious sounds and sights of Crickets and Grasshoppers including, common green, meadow and Bog Bush-Crickets. Craneflies, Hoverflies, Bumblebees, (too many varieties to mention!), Click Beetles and even golden Ringed Dragonflies. That is just a taster of what can be found with very little effort - one warning though, "the Rough" is aptly named, you will need stout, waterproof footwear and a sense of balance or a stick!(maybe two!)
The flora does not disappoint either with Birds-Foot-Trefoil, Meadowsweet, Selfheal, Greater Knapweed, Thistle, Oxeye Daisy, Umbelaforms aplenty, the smell and sight of Corn Mint and Marestail to 4 feet!!!. I even found the seed pods of a few Spotted Orchids.
Buzzards soared overhead as Squirrels hunting down Hazelnuts, deer hoof prints in the mud and as I was leaving a Tawny Owl decided to announce it's presence, for a little exploratory outing this was quite a result, needless to say I will be returning shortly for a longer spell.
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