Field four, which covers an area of 3.3 acres (1.32 hectares), was reclaimed from woodland some years ago and is going through a stage of regeneration. It is our intention to keep it as a field and allow the culm species to grow. This means that as the new trees start to grow they must be removed.

This is our major field for butterflies and by May they are coming out in force. Here is a Brimstone butterfly(Gonepteryx Rhamni) on a Marsh Plume Thistle.

The Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) is very common in this field as well. You will be able to see them for several months.

We have also found some Pearl Bordered Fritillaries (Boloria Euphrosyne) on the Meadow Thistle in this field as well as in field one.

It could be that they are Small Pearl Bordered (Boloria Selene) instead. It is difficult to tell them apart. Certainly our photos look more like the Euphrosyne but the Devon branch of Butterfly Conservation suggest that we have the Selene.

They were exceedingly active in wet uneven terrain and we could not get any closer but the underside appeared redder than that of the Selene in the reference books.

The Bugle (Ajuga Reptans) is now showing its flowers. It's a member of the Labiatae family, which includes all the mints.

The Carnation Sedge (Carex Panicea) is now in flower.

If you lift up some of the many logs that are in the piles around the field you can meet up with some more interesting creatures.

Here is a frog (Rana temporaria)

and a toad (Bufo bufo) or as they say "we're going up the frog and toad"

The toad has shorter rear legs than the frog. But these two, who were found very close to each other, were easily distinguishable. Whilst the frog looked a bit chirpy the toad was deep black and had a very evil face.

To reach field five cut through the middle of the bank between the two fields. You will need your Wellies at this point.

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