Findhorn Butterfly Walk Sun 31st July 2022

The forecast for the day wasn't bad, overcast but dry, but it turned out much better, bright sunshine and very warm with a gentle breeze off the sea to keep things cool.  10 of us met up at the beach end of the car park at Findhorn and set out looking for our target species, Grayling, but also looking forward to seeing whatever else was about.

We quickly spotted a Small Tortoiseshell feeding on Ragwort, and within a couple of minutes had also spotted our first Grayling of the day.  After that we saw a few more species, Small Copper, Small Heath and Common Blue in good numbers, a Peacock and more Grayling.  Unfortunately as it was so warm, they were all a bit super-charged so getting photos wasn't as easy as it could be.

 

Grayling                                                         Small Copper

 

We carried along the grassy dunes area heading east, roughly parallel with the sea, which looked very inviting in the heat.  We were still seeing Grayling, Small Heath and Common Blue with the occasional Small Copper and Meadow Brown.  We also found an interesting moth, which I managed to get photos of.  Although I couldn't remember the name of it at the time, it was obviously a Dart species and it turned out to be an Archer's Dart.  There were also numerous Grass moths and a few Six-spot Burnets.

 

We briefly explored an area of sand dunes and shingle, still seeing a few butterflies, before turning back and heading a slightly different way back to the cars.  There were a couple of white butterflies seen, at least one was a Green-veined White, but some were a bit too fast to be completely sure of the species.  There was a little viewpoint on a grassy hillock just after we turned and a Dark Green Fritillary was spotted there which brought our total number of species for the day to nine.

 

Archer's Dart