Roger Bristow Memorial Butterfly Walks
Welcome to the Devon Branch’s Roger Bristow Memorial Butterfly Walks. This is the start of what we hope will be a series of Butterfly Walks in Devon - short walks around the county at good places to see particular butterflies at different times of the Spring and Summer. Visitors to this web page can download the walk and print off the details to guide their visit. Our aim is to add more walks to this page so do return and check for new listings and if you have further suggestions we would love to hear from you - email contact@devon-butterflies.org.uk
These Devon Butterfly Walks are in remembrance of a much respected and highly regarded member of Butterfly Conservation, Roger Bristow, who passed away in September 2020. Roger was one of the founding members of the Devon Branch of Butterfly Conservation and he played a huge role in improving the knowledge of Devon’s butterflies.
Roger served on the branch committee for many years and took on many roles from Chairman, newsletter editor and, most significantly, as the Devon County Recorder for 35 years. He was always very generous with his time giving talks and attending public events to raise awareness and share his knowledge of butterflies.
Walk 1 - Orley Common, Ipplepen, Devon
Orley Common is at Ipplepen near Newton Abbot. It is usually accessed from the A381 Newton Abbot to Totnes road. In Ipplepen village take the road signed to Torbryan and Broadhempston which will take you past the Parish Church as you exit the village. Leaving the last houses behind, the small car park is found after about another 500 metres on the right just as you drive under tree cover (SX827666), nearest postcode TQ12 5UT.
Key species: Marbled White (late June – July); Brown Argus (can be hard to find some seasons but occasionally occurs in good numbers in August), Wall, Small Copper, Common Blue, Silver-washed Fritillary all best seen in August. Wall, if seen, occurs in small numbers in spring and summer.
Other species: Large Skipper (June/July), Ringlet (late June – July); Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, and Small Skipper all usually peak during July and August. Purple Hairstreak can be seen in July and August atop a small number of mature oaks that are present. Brown Hairstreak is also present but very rarely seen with August as best month.
Download Walk 1 (pdf) below
BC Devon Walk 1 - Orley Common Butterfly Walk
pdf 365.63 KB
pdf 365.63 KB
Walk 2 - rest of this page under construction
Walk 2 description goes here...
Walk 3 goes here
Walk 3 description goes here...