Bentley wood & Chappetts copse, Hants ,Sat 30th May

Last Saturday I made my second visit of the year to Bentley wood to see the Small-pearl bordered fritillary in the eastern clearing and about a further mile into the wood for the Marsh fritillary. About 20+ S P B frits were seen along with a few faded and slightly worn Pearl borders. 1 Argent and sable moth was also seen here.2 Marsh fritillaries were seen in the other part of the wood. Grizzled skipper, Brimstone, Speckled wood, Peacock and Small heath were also seen.

 Small-pearl bordered fritillary

 Small-pearl bordered fritillary

 Small-pearl bordered fritillary

 Marsh fritillary

 Marsh fritillary

 Marsh fritillary

After Bentley wood we headed for the Hants & Iow wildlife trust reserve Chappetts copse for the Sword-leaved helleborine.1000's were in flower along White helleborine, 38 Bird's nest orchids and a few Fly orchids. There were 2 plants present that had good characteristics for Sword leaved X White helleborine.The leaves were broad like White helleborine  and the flowers were similar to White helleborine but they were whiter like Sword leaved flowers. They were also much taller than the others.

 Sword-leaved helleborine

 Sword-leaved helleborine

 Poss hybrid flowerhead

 White(L) Sword(M), Hybrid? (R)