20th July - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Back to Titchfield today.  Much cooler with the fresh northerly breeze.  I headed around to the west side of the reserve, pausing to take a look at the male Goosander that was in the harbour.  Heavily in moult the spring's bottle green head was now a reddish brown and the wings were without and primaries or secondaries feathers.  It is separated from the female redhead at this time of year by the white panel on the wings.

The tide was at it's lowest and the terns were fishing in the shallow water and carrying their catch on to the scrape to feed the young terns.

There were four Common Scoter out on the Solent, much too far away to photograph.  As I watched them a message came in announcing a Little Stint on the south scrape.  Rather than go straight to the Meon Shore hide I walked around to the Pumfrett where you can view both scrapes.  The stint was showing but ironically closer to the Meon Shore hide.

So I walked back and it was still showing, but insisted on feeding around the legs of Black-tailed Godwits.

Here with a Dunlin for size comparison.

This is quite an early Little Stint for the Haven and shows that the wader passage is now well under way.

There were four Dunlin, all in summer plumage feeding around the island.

Over the last few weeks there has been a Common Tern on its nest on what was an island, but is now part of the mud.  I was beginning to think the eggs were not going to hatch, but today there was a glimpse of a chick and I was told that there are two.

The Black-tailed Godwits are still looking very smart in their brick red plumage.

Other notable birds on the scrape were the Tufted Duck still with her three ducklings and two Little Stint on an island on the far right hand side

There had been a Brown Hairstreak reported on Sunday on the east side of the reserve so I was keen to try and find one.  Turnstone have been absent in the harbour, but today there were nine feeding along the edge of the water, all in their orange summer plumage.

And so the search began.  I am sure I had one fly past me in the typical Brown Hairstreak manner as if a little tipsy.  It didn't stop though and the search continued and while it didn't turn up a photographable Brown Hairstreak there was plenty to see.

Two Jersey Tiger Moths, one high up in the security and shade ot the tree leaves.

And another on the Hemp Acrimony.

These moths are becoming commoner as the temperatures continue to rise.

The obligatory Painted Lady.

A Large White, there were also Small White and Green-veined White.

Then in amongst the wild flowers smaller butterflies.  A female Common Blue.

And a Brown Argus.

No Brown Hairstreak once again, but some interesting sightings, with Little Stint a welcome year tick.

18th July - Portsdown Hill, Hampshire

A change in the weather, the temperatures were not going to be above 25 degrees today!  A nice northerly breeze would cool things off.  I met Ian at Portsdown Hill, we were there to look for the reported Brown Hairstreaks which would save us the long trek we normally take to Shipton Belinger to see this beautiful butterfly

Despite the breeze when sheltered the sun was still very warm even early in the morning.  As we walked around Fort Widley a yellow butterfly flew past and for once settled on the side of the path.  A Clouded Yellow and a chance for a photograph.

We walked through some glorious flower meadows with thistle, knapweed and wild carrot.  Despite the time of day there were plenty of butterflies, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown the most numerous, but also several Common Blues.

We eventually found the meadow where the Hairstreaks have been seen.  This butterfly likes Ash and blackthorn, there was plenty of this around the outside of the meadow, but the specific location I had been told of was not in the sun at the moment, so we walked the area that was.  Plenty of Oak and Ash and it wasn't a surprise to see Purple Hairstreak. 

In a sheltered spot a Migrant Hawker settled on a bush.

Another surprise was this Small Blue, clearly from a second brood it was settled on a grass stem.

We walked around the outside of the meadow without any luck.  There were plenty of juvenile and adult Swallows flying low over the flowers and the mown grass.  At times they would pass by us so close showing some incredible flying skills.  

We were deciding where to go next as we stood on the mown grass.  It was hard to ignore the swallows as they flew around and between  us.

Twisting and turning.

We decided to retrace our steps back to the car park and there was a wonderful show of butterflies along the path.  A male Brown Argus.

And more Small Blues.

But the highlight was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth that had a liking for Field Scabious.

Probably some of the best photographs I have taken of this delightful little day flying moth.

Even at the very high shutter speeds it was not possible to freeze the wings completely, but it does show the figure of eight pattern the wings take to enable it to hover.

The length of the proboscis is quite amazing.

More butterflies in the fields and by the side of the footpath.  A Small Heath.

And a smart male Common Blue.

Through the day we saw four raptors, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and this Red Kite that was being mobbed by Magpies.

Walking back from the cars we found a nice female Common Blue.

And the obligatory Painted Lady.

And the first Green-veined White of the day.

The sun was now on the blackthorn in the location I was told, but there wasn't any sign of the Brown Hairstreaks.  As the area warmed up Gatekeeper appeared and Meadow Brown.  A circuit of the filed once again found yet another Small Blue.

The density of the flowers in the meadow.

We stopped for lunch on a bench at the top of the hill and enjoyed the view and the cooling northerly breeze.  After lunch we set off once more down the side of the field.  A small orange butterfly set the pulses racing, but it turned out to be a Small Copper.

Still no sign of the hairstreaks and after several circuits we gave up.  Walking slowly for quite some time plays havoc with my back and I had to get a rest so we made our way back to the cars.  Another Painted Lady.

An what was probably the same Clouded Yellow we had seen at the start of the day was nectaring on Thyme.

Showing a little of that elusive upper wing pattern.

In total we saw twenty two butterfly species and two moths, but it was disappointing not to be able to include the Brown Hairstreak in that list.  Never mind, we always say that nature is not something that you can rely on to deliver, and it was a good day in great company.