One such guest is Peter Law who writes a beautiful blog
called Ramblings and Scribblings, described as a wildlife and travel diary of an Oxford naturalist. Peter arrived with a very impressive camera (a Nikon D3100 SLR camera with either a Nikkor 55-300mm telephoto lens or Tamron 90mm macro lens no less) and on the viewfinder he was sporting an image of an equally impressive looking butterfly. It turned out that Peter was looking for the High Brown Fritillary, an incredibly rare butterfly that can be found at Heddon Valley, just six miles from St Vincent’s.
The High Brown Fritillary (HBF) is known for being Great Britain's most threatened butterfly and is listed as a vulnerable species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Chatting to Peter,
the HBF can only be recognised by looking underneath (the ventral view, not the upper dorsal) and obviously, this is no mean feat to achieve! Like other fritillaries (of which there are many types) it is dependent on warm climates with violet rich flora, with populations remaining in only four areas in Great Britain. The Morecambe Bay Limestone hills, the Glamorgan Brackenlands, Dartmoor and here in Exmoor.
You can read more about his hunt on his blog page here. I am not going to spoil the story and tell you if he found it or not, but it is definitely worth a read.
