Forty birds and fourteen butterflies at Ruan Lanihorne

Eleven pairs of binoculars set off on a warm, sunny morning at Ruan Lanihorne, out on the Roseland Peninsula. By the time the group stopped for cold drinks and biscuits, the tally had climbed to forty species of bird and fourteen of butterfly. It was, by every account, a glorious day.

📷Little egret wading in shallow water

Forty species in a single morning

The count came to forty species of bird across the walk. A little egret picked its way through the shallows on black legs, a mute swan powered across the open water, and a red kite drifted overhead on the thermals. Rob Nicholls led the field trip and kept the list ticking over. Forty in a morning is a fine return for high summer, when many birds go quiet and take some finding.

📷Ringlet butterfly resting on yellow fleabane flowers

Fourteen butterflies in the sunshine

The warmth brought the butterflies out in numbers, fourteen species of them. A ringlet settled on fleabane, its wings marked with neat cream-ringed spots. A gatekeeper opened its orange and brown wings on a bramble leaf. A common blue caught the light on a spray of buds. Still, sunny days are exactly what butterflies want, and this one delivered.

📷Swan moving across open water

The people who made it happen

The day was organised by Rowena Castillo-Nicholls, founder and chair of Connect with Nature, RSPB Kernow Group Leader, and Publicity Officer of Cornwall Birds. Rob Nicholls was the field trip leader, keeping the group together and calling out what was about. Eleven nature and wildlife enthusiasts came along for the walk.

📷Red kite soaring against a blue sky

Cold drinks and biscuits to finish

The morning ended the way the best ones tend to, with everyone gathered for a chat over cold drinks to cool down and a few biscuits to go with them. Forty birds, fourteen butterflies, one warm day on the Roseland, and a group already wondering what the next walk might turn up.

📷Gatekeeper butterfly with open orange and brown wings on a leaf

📷Common blue butterfly perched on flower buds

📷Group photo: Rowena Castillo-Nicholls, Rob Nicholls, Demelza Wisker, Alison Jones, Gary Batchelor, Christopher Rothero, Emma Merry, Robert Eschle, Rob Cockings, and Charlie Holden