After visiting the reserve yesterday to photograph the Lady, Monkey & Lady/Monkey hybrids, I returned today to help out with some voluntary work.

Today, like yesterday was an absolute scorcher, so thankfully Chris, the warden, didn’t have anything too strenuous lined up & most of the work revolved around identifying which of the orchids were in flower & mapping any new plants.  My little group of 4 found 5 new flowering plants in just two of the 10m grid squares used to map the orchid population, so that was pleasing.

Later in the afternoon, we were given some very good views of some Green Hairstreaks, which are the best views that I’ve had in years.   There were also plenty of Small Heath, Brimstone, Orange Tip, Dingy Skipper and I saw a single specimen of Grizzled Skipper as well.

We finished off working at about 15:00, had something to eat, then Chris very kindly gave me a lift back to the train station.