BUTTERFLIES OF BERNWOOD FOREST

I could consider myself a lucky man for many reasons- but one of them would undoubtedly be that down the M40, only 45 minutes from base camp Balham, between the Oxfordshire villages of Oakley and the intriguingly named Horton cum Studley (and trust me, you don't want to be googling that one with the kids around...) lies amazing Bernwood Forest.

Bernwood must surely be one of the premier sites for butterflies in England, and it's a darned fine place to spend a sunny summer's afternoon. It's one of Britain's oldest forests, and thanks to the efforts of the people at BBONT (the Bucks, Berks, Oxon Nature Trust) is beautifully maintained in a butterfly friendly way.

Wandering along the peaceful sun-dappled rides, you get a feeling for how England might have been centuries ago, and an appreciation of just what we may have lost through the ravages of progress. I can get quite misty eyed about it all. Really, I can. I start whistling the theme from Robin Hood (The Richard Greene version, obviously. Not the new fangled one with the bloke from Spooks).

And then, there are the butterflies. There are lots and lots of them. Clouds, even. To see butterflies in this quantity, you would otherwise have to travel to, say, rural mainland europe or the South American rainforest.

But these are British butterflies, which, while not always as big and colourful, are to my mind better- perhaps because of their scarcity, perhaps because of their understated subtlty, or perhaps because I'm whistling the theme from Robin Hood.

So, inspired by the great national butterfly count (courtesy of my M&S, so the ads tell me) I have spent a few hours over the last 2 weeks indulging my inner lepidopterist. I've been into butterflies since childhood, which makes me a true butterfly and bug fan. (I've tried to find a cooler term for this, but all I could come up with was 'Bugger' or 'Butt-head' so, on reflection, i'm sticking with lepidopterist).

In 4 hours over two days at Bernwood, the long suffering Dilly and I counted 21 species. Given that there are only about 58 resident species in Britain, that's a pretty good haul for such a short time. And of course, not all the species are on the wing at the same time, so that total is by no means all of the butterflies found there.

Dilly, armed with a pair of binoculars and a battered copy of the observers book of butterflies, was getting quite enthusiastic at each new species, and I sense that she may too be discovering her inner lepidopterist. Mind you, she was being spoiled. There can't be many people whose third official recorded species is the sublime but seldom seen Purple Emperor. (And yes, it looks as good as it sounds...)

Even I, as an old hand, managed a new 'lifer'- the rather fetching and scarce brown hairstreak, which I'd wanted to see for many years. It's pictured here below, 2nd row down, feeding on Bramble. There are also some of the more common, but no less stunning species pictured; White admiral, comma, ringlet, common blue, large skipper, silver-washed fritillary, small copper, speckled wood and marbled white.

So we have a few weeks of summer left. The common blues are on the wing. Get yourself out into ye olde English countrysyde and count some butterflies. All together now- Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen.....