Butterfly Bonanza of the Chiltern grasslands

During the months of July and August I was helping with many butterfly surveys as part of my conservation traineeship which took me to some great butterfly sites across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. However one new site that I visited stood out even though it wasn't a Wildlife Trust reserve. Yoseden Bank is a small area of pristine chalk grassland, that is well managed to support a healthy diversity of flora and invertebrate communities. The buttefly population here is very impressive as the hill is south facing giving Adonis blue a breeding population.

Adonis blue 

The sheer numbers of butterflies is what makes the site special, with hundreds of Meadow browns, Small/Essex skippers, Marbled whites, Common blues and a very healthy population of Chalkhill blues.

Chalkhill blue 

The long grass is also home to Great green bush crickets which are a very large and impressive species.

Great green bush cricket 

80% of all favourable-condition chalk grasslands have been lost over the years due to lack of traditional management (sensitive sheep grazing) resulting in scrub encroachment and for transformation of land use for agriculture.