DAVID'S NATURE BLOG

5 SEPTEMBER 2026 - SOUTHERN COUNTRY PARK (SCP)

I didn’t want to exert myself too much after this Tuesday’s marathon 6-hour walk; so, I opted for Southern Country Park. Needing to ensure I arrived in the park in time to catch emerging butterflies and dragonflies, I left home at 9.35 hrs, arriving at the Park at 10.15 hrs - not too strenuous.

The morning was warmish at around 20 degrees C, and it was sunny and clear, with a moderate northerly breeze, although as I arrived at the Park the skies were beginning to cloud over momentarily. Nothing of any note on the way, but a few Jackdaws (an attractive member of the Corvids family).

There was nobody around - no anglers at the lake, which was unusual (though maybe that had something to do the state of the water, which until recently was covered in duckweed, but now was completely clear, possibly courtesy of recent rains). But there were only a ‘handful’ of Mallards and a couple of Moorhens at the northern end, and as far as I could tell very few dragonflies - half a dozen Migrant Hawkers, a female Southern Hawker, and just two Common Darters. Butterflies around the lake comprised a few Small Whites and a female Brown Argus. At the ‘old Pond’ a couple of Common Darters and a Ruddy Darter, with a lone female Western Willow Emerald Damselfly (I saw none around the main lake at all).

From a distance I could see that part of the Chalk Bank had been mowed, but the southern end remained uncut, so I thought I should at least try for some butterflies, even though the breeze had increased in strength. As soon as I got round to the bank, I saw a single Small White, and with it a Clouded Yellow, which fortunately came towards me and alighted on a dandelion a few feet away, and was relatively easily photographed. And then I saw another, and followed round to the southern end, where it alighted on another dandelion, flitting from one to another for a while until I could get a few shots fired off. But it certainly wasn’t straight forward as the butterfly was moving almost continually at an amazingly fast rate, until it settled, but only briefly. I felt that I’d seen at least three and possibly four individuals - all females - although it’s difficult to quantify as the insects were fast moving and spread out over the Chalk Bank. There were quite a lot of Common Blues too, with one or two rather worn Brown Argus, and a single Silver ‘Y’ Moth, which certainly gave me the run-around!

At the Wildflower Meadow (previously known as ‘The Maze’) there was only a small part that had been left unmown - the rest of the field was completely cut, so, the chances of finding any Wasp Spiders was remote indeed, and although I did look hard along the fence line, I failed to connect with any. There were no butterflies here at all either - the field, as far as I could tell, being occupied by a few tiny (unidentified) bee species, a Jackdaw and a couple of Wood Pigeons.

Passing through to one of the exits I could see that most of the open fields had been mown too, so I wasn’t likely to see any more butterflies and dragonflies, so I moved on to the small pond adjacent to St. James’ Church, but the pond was overgrown with tall Phragmites, with hardly any open water, with the only occupiers being a couple of inquisitive Migrant Hawkers.

I took a seat in the grounds of the Church to consume a biscuit and a banana, washed down with water from my flask, then moved off noticing and photographing a huge Chicken of the Woods fungi on a conifer, and then I was homeward bound.