1st August - Stockbridge Down, Hampshire

Another glorious day with clear blue skies and wall to wall sunshine.  The temperature though was more amenable with a light northerly wind.  Today was going to be about butterflies and an opportunity to visit a site I haven't been to for some time.  Sitting just outside the town of Stockbridge is an area of chalk downland that rises up to Woolbury fort an old Iron Age fort at just over 150 metres above sea level, commanding wonderful views to the east north and west.

The site is well known for butterflies and is owned and managed by the Natural Trust.  I arrived in the car park just before 9:00am and then set off, after crossing the road, to the west following an area of grass and wild flowers including knapweed, ground thistles and scabious.  My first butterfly of the day was a Small Heath, this was to be the first of many of this small butterfly.

Meadow Brown were numerous too as I walked around the west perimeter.  Small Whites were busy around the the thistles.

The views were amazing looking out across the fields to the west, all looking parched and scorched after harvesting from the hot weather.

Walking up the tracks and heading towards the Iron Age fort there were many rabbit holes and scrapes, the grass kept very low by the rabbits grazing.  This was the view as I headed north.

I very quickly came across a lot of Chalkhill Blues.  This butterfly is a typical chalkland butterfly and in good years there can be clouds of them flying just inches above the ground around your feet.  This was definitely the case today.

Meadow Browns were as numerous, and they would take off as you walked through the grass.

As I made my way up to the fort I passed through a small copse where of course there had to be a Speckled Wood.

Hawthorn bushes and scrub including Buddleia were scattered around the fort and here there was a Red Admiral and Peacock plus Small White and a single Large White.  But the best butterfly was a Clouded Yellow that defied the rules of a Clouded Yellow and settled for me.

Along with our other regular migrant butterfly, this year has been excellent for seeing Clouded Yellow.  I can't recall in all the time I have been watching butterflies ever seeing so many.

I followed the perimeter of the down from the top by the fort all the way towards the south east and finally the bottom area that runs parallel with the road.  This is deemed to be the best place for butterflies and so it proved.  Even more Chalkhill Blues.

This one a female with a brown underwing, but the same pattern of spots.

The male for compariosn.

In flight the males look a pale blue as the weave through the grasses and flowers.

The female is brown on the upper wing.

A male and female together.  I watched these two as the male pursued the female, I wasn't sure at first if she was repelling him or is was part of the courtship, but in the end he flew off leaving the female to sit on the thyme.

In amongst the Chalkhill Blues was an Adonis Blue, that like the Silver-spotted Skipper is not found in great numbers here and in fact did not stop for a photo.  There were also a few Common Blues.

A surprise around bushes that run along the bottom of the slope was a male Beautiful Demoiselle.  These lovely damselflies seem to turn up anywhere.

Although not guaranteed here I was hoping I would find a Silver-spotted Skipper, the last of our skippers here in the United Kingdom to emerge and a definite Chalkland species.  Whilst not abundant here they can be found.

This meant any small butterfly zipping about got my immediate attention and so was the case with these two Small Coppers.

Always a lovely butterfly to catch up with.

More Small Whites.

And of course the other migrant to these shores and in good numbers this year, the Painted Lady.

I had now circumvented the down and reached the area I had first searched when I arrived.  There were now a lot more butterflies about, numbers dominated by the Chalkhill Blue, but something caught my eye flying low over the ground and not bothering with the many flowers.

It was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

I followed it around watching what it was doing and it appeared to be hovering and then moving the abdomen into the small plants mixed in amongst the grass. 

I could only think it was laying eggs and later I found out that the plant they lay eggs on is Bedstraw and there was plenty of Lady's Bedstraw about a small plant about five centimetres high with small yellow flowers.  Once again turned the shutter speed up in an attempt to capture the wings and this time it turned out much better.

Here you can see the moth bending the abdomen towards the flower stem.

Probably the sharpest.

And again showing the action.

The moth had to fight off the attentions of a Meadow Brown and I eventually lost it.

I decided to make my way back along the bottom, have some lunch and then do one more transect.  I wasn't giving up on the skipper yet.

THere were a  few more Small Coppers that had me interested and a Brown Argus, but finally a butterfly pinged across in front of me and settled on a knapweed.  I checked with my binoculars and confirmed it was in fact a Silver-spotted Skipper and was able to get this shot before it sprung away once again and out of sight.

This skipper is a chalkland specialist and a butterfly that loves the warmth.  Conditions here were ideal, but unfortunately this was the only one I was able to find.

As I walked the transect I came across the two migrants once again.  The Painted Lady.

And my fifth Clouded Yellow of the day, never before have I seen more Clouded Yellow than Painted Lady.

Looking west once more the sky was covered with Rooks, they had been feeding in the fields and also using the cattle water troughs.

With the clouds building up from the west I turned to black and white to capture the scene.  This medium enhances the clouds in the sky and also the scorched, dry look of the ground.  What a summer we are having.

Looking east along the bottom of the slope parallel with the road.

So successful day and great to be back at Stockbridge it really has been too long.

The butterfly count from the walk today, eighteen species

31st July - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

After the family break it was back to Titchfield to see what had been going on while I was away and what state the reserve is in now after the complete lack of rain.

Plenty of spaces along Cliff Road this morning so it was a short walk to the Cabin where I checked in, from there I started to walk around to the west side of the reserve and the scrapes, but stopped at the harbour.  The tide was out and there was a sizeable increase in the number of Turnstone on the mud in the harbour.  All still in their summer plumage, there was a count of fifty three.

Common Terns were fishing off shore and could be seen flying back and forth from the scrape.  On arriving at the Meon Shore hide I was informed that there was a Spoonbill at the back of the scrape.  It was feeding with the characteristic sweeping motion as it searched for any food in the water.

There was some debate over the age of the Spoonbill, there were signs of black in the primaries and the legs were black which indicated a possible immature bird say second calendar year?

There always seems to be a Common Sandpiper feeding around the island in front of the hide and of course it was there today.

Also on the island were the three Common Tern chicks.  The oldest is now fourteen days old with the other two showing their age difference in their size.  Probably standing in the atwer to cool off.

The parents would bring fish in and for a while it was the older chick that was taking the majority of what was brought in.

There was an interesting dynamic where another tern would try to feed the chicks bringing in fish.  But the chicks were able to ignore it and hide under the roof tile, clearly they had been told not to accept gifts from strangers.  But what is interesting is that they are clearly aware of the correct tern's calls.

One of the parents calling out the intruder.

Plenty of tern action around the scrape, with a lot of immature birds still being fed by their parents.

Some close fly pasts as well.

And some squabbles.

There were two Sandwich Terns present, but both birds left the scrape heading to the sea as the tide came in.

A Mediterranean Gull was found amongst the Black-headed Gulls, an adult bird it was ringed with a white ring and the symbols 'EK22', hopefully I will get some more information on this at a later date.

Despite the fact that no Avocet chicks were raised on the Titchfield scrapes there were several juvenile birds feeding around the scrape.  They probably have come from the Hook Links scrape where there were a few birds raised.  These three were inseparable.

This adult was always close by and could be heard calling, maybe a parent?

Other waders included an increase in Common Redshank and the now long staying Spotted Redshank, unfortunately in its non breeding plumage.

There were four Green Sandpipers on the north scrape and one came south onto the area on the left hand side of the scrape with a Common Sandpiper close by.

Black-tailed Godwit numbers topped 105, with many birds scattered around the scrape.  These still in summer plumage looked quite smart in the dark water.

Apparently there has been a Water Rail showing over the last few days and this juvenile nipped out of the reeds and then almost as fast back in.

There was a strange event around midday, a sharp loud crack and gust of wind that blew the dust across the scrape and everything was spooked.

The thought was it could have been some sort of vortex that was generated by the heat and the wind.  It was very strange.

With all the birds spooked the Spoonbill left too, but it came back and stayed for a short while then flew off heading out to sea.  As it passed the hide you could clearly see the black tips to the primaries that probably age it as a second year bird.

When I arrived a Common Gull flew over my head towards the bay. As I walked back an adult Common Gull was sat on a post, a returning bird for the winter already.

One sad event I watched a juvenile Black-headed Gull struggling to keep its head up and eventually it dies on the edge of an island.  There was also a few dead Avocet around the scrapes.  The thought is that this was due to botulism caused by the low water on the scrape.  Lets hope it is that and not more avian flu.  The water levels have been increased now and hopefully this will continue through the dry spell.