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Things that are worth looking out for this month

It is not difficult to spot of some of the common butterflies because they are abundant and are easy to distinguish even without capture (see below). Spotting the plants that have adjusted to using other vegetation for their support (i.e. climbing plants) can be an interesting task, especially if the methods used can be sorted out too.

Butterflies
In 2010 our trip out with Richard Harrington spotted eight species of butterflies which might be seen on a summer’s morning in mid June. This was perhaps a slightly disappointing number since 22 of the 60 odd butterfly species to be found in Britain occur along the line, but it was perhaps typical of what you might expect to find on a walk with the family.

In the grassy areas meadow browns are easy to find. When this medium sized butterfly is in flight it looks a light brown colour and when resting it clearly displays an orange-brown stripe on the underside of its forewings.

Another much smaller butterfly is the large skipper which has a very characteristic way of folding its wings when resting.

Ringlets which are small butterflies appear very dark in flight but if they can be seen sitting still with their wings folded they display the beautiful rings that give them their name.

Under the trees it is usually possible to spot the speckled wood, which is medium sized and brownish, but almost the only butterfly to fly in the shade of the trees over the line. If the wings are outspread when the butterfly rests, the speckled nature of the patterning is obvious.

Lately the marbled white has colonised across the Nickey Line and can be found in the meadows either side and on the steep roadside banks leading down to the roundabout on the Redbourn bypass.
It is obviously different from the other whites by the black checkerboard –like markings on its wings, which can even be seen in flight.

Another butterfly that can often be found is the common blue. At this time of the year the holly blues are not flying, so any blue you see is likely to be the common blue. The trouble is the male may be blue, but the female tends have more brown on the wings and is therefore less conspicuous.

Plants
Now that all are in leaf, the great scramble for light is on. Every plant needs to gain as much food from photosynthesis as it can so that it will be able to spend more energy on reproduction (both flowering and fruiting). One way up to light without using precious food for support, is to use other plants as scaffolding. Climbing plants are therefore common, and the Nickey line shows a great range of them. Here are some of the means by which they climb;
a) using the stalks of the leaves to wrap round supports like the old man’s beard (wild clematis),
b) using stems to coil round, like black bryony and the bindweeds; these plants are called twiners, but some twine to the right and some to the left,
c) using the terminal leaflets of a compound leaf; these are modified into tendrils, like the vetch,
d) using tendrils to pull the plant closer to its support, like white bryony (see below),
e) using adventitious roots to burrow into cracks and crevices in the bark of trees, like ivy,
f) using slightly backward projecting spines along the main stem, which snag on other plants helping to hold the climbing plant up, like bramble or wild rose,
g) using minute hooks covering almost the entire surface of the plant which make it feel sticky, like goose grass (sweethearts)

Plant of the month
White bryony is one of the most sophisticated climbers. Once the tendril has established connection, the middle section of the tendril begins to rotate, coiling up the rest and so shortening the distance between the ends, pulling the plant closer to its contact. It is an easy plant to find, because of the characteristic shape of the leaves and its white flowers.