Lankham Bottom

On the back of the success with the other two UK Butterfly conservation sites I visited a third of theirs at the beginning of August, that of Lankham Bottom. This site is just off the A37 Dorchester to Yeovil road, take a left at the Staggs Folly junction if you are heading away from Dorchester. The UK Butterfly conservation description of the nature reserve is very accurate, a west Dorset chalk downland that overlooks the River Frome valley, providing fine views towards the West Dorset coast. The location of the reserve along with the parking points are shown in the map below.

One very important point to mention is that it has a very steep hill, it’s alright when walking down but back up I strongly recommend you turn and admire the views they mention several times. I did!

The two new Butterfly species that I managed to photo here were the Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) and the Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas). All of the pictures were taken using the Zuiko Olympus OM 90mm F2 macro lens with the Olympus OM T32 wide angle filters over the Olympus OM T28 twin macro flash heads.

This is the Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus), aperture F8 on Fuji Velvia 50.

and this is the Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), again with an aperture of F8 but this one was on Fuji Sensia 100 RA-669 slide film.

There were also a lot of Common Blues (Polyommatus icarus) about, and most species spotted had mites (later found out that they do not harm the butterfly, a good thing). Both shots of the Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) were taken with an aperture of F8 on Fuji Velvia 50.

This one showing the mites is a female Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

and finally, completely off the topic of butterflies I found this grasshopper, whose pose just makes me smile, a similar reaction to the shot of the Too cold for me! blue tit I took. Again aperture of F8 on Fuji Sensia 100 RA-669.

Map of of Lankham Bottom

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