15th August - Old Winchester Hill, Hampshire

The last two days have been ones of intense heat, today was much fresher but temperatures remained above what is normally expected in August.  The views from here will always take my breath away and today was no exception, with some unique cloud formation enghanced in black and white.

Knowing it would still be sunny and warm I opted to go searching for butterflies on Old Winchester Hill, but as I walked the top path there was a collection of warblers in the bushes and amongst the grass and plant stems. 

There were Chiffchaffs.

And a few Willow Warblers.

While a family of Long-tailed Tits in the Yew tree.

First butterfly was a Small Heath.

I walked up to the fort and looking south towards the Isle of Wight the clouds were even more impressive.

The butterfly of the day has to be the Clouded Yellow, they seemed to be everywhere and they were stopping to nectar.  In total I counted thirty five, but in truth there may have been many more, I have not seen so many in one location ever before.

Here those elusive open wing shots showing the black trim on the fore wing.

There was a very pale form, that at first I thought was a Large White, but the spot on the underwing identified it a  clouded Yellow, but what form?  Some 10% to 15% of females are of a pale form helice, the colour ranging from a soft lemon yellow to white.  The underside though is the same in the normal and helice forms.

My challenge for the day was to try and catch one in flight.  I had a lot of attempts but the only successful one was the first attempt I took.

I walked down the south slope and there were plenty of second brood Adonis Blue.

The electric Blue colour of this butterfly is so intense in the second brood.

The numbers of Chalkhill Blues was down on my previous visit, but still in good numbers, some were worn and looking tatty but his one wasn't too bad.

A surprise was this immaculate Mint Moth.

But the butterfly I was looking for down the south slope was the Silver-spotted Skipper and it didn't take long to find them, so different from my search on Stockbridge Down.  Once you get your eye in on their flight activity they are simple to find

This one looks to have some damage to the wing.

Normally they are found on the south slope, more down at the bottom out of the cooling breeze.  This butterfly loves the warm weather and can be seen frequently sunning on the flower heads.  It was a surprise then that this one was on the slope of the hill fort moat.

Then a very nice close up of this beautiful little skipper.

After having my time with the Kestrels, I walked down the hill.  A Red Admiral was sitting on the chalk path casting a nice shadow.

The slope leading down to the Woodpecker Copse had many Clouded Yellows at the bottom, this one back lit by the sun as it nectared on the flowers.

The path coming out of the copse, the chalk leading to the blue sky.

And the arid dry slopes and fields around the Hill fort.

Not on the hill but my drive home is a short one for once and as I turned off the A32 I noticed a pair of Swallows on the wire outside the cottage close to the junction.  I stopped and the Swallow allowed to take a few photos before flying off.

A great morning up on the hill, butterflies and kestrels performing at their best.

15th August - Kestrel - Old Winchester Hill, Hampshire

I had come to Old Winchester Hill today primarily for the butterflies, but Old Winchester Hill is also excellent for providing eye level and looking down views of birds of prey and today, with a northerly wind blowing and providing an updraft on the north slopes of the hill fort, the Kestrels were performing.  There were three immature birds hunting together and an adult male keeping well away, but also using the wind to hunt.  This post is a complete portfolio of the Kestrels, the butterflies and views will be the subject of my next post.

On reaching the hill fort I came across the adult hovering just over the slope of the moat on the north side of the fort.  Several hovers and drops into the grass ended up with the bird gliding up on the wind and past me across the fort,

A little further along the three immature birds were hunting over the grassland in front of a line of dying Ash trees.  At first I thought there were four Kestrels but it soon became clear there was a Sparrowhawk amongst them.

The kestrels were flying and the view I had was with the harvested field below them, the fort allowing me to look down on them

This looks like an immature Sparrowhawk and there did not appear to be any real animosity from either the Kestrel or the hawk they would just interact in the sky, maybe the Sparrowhawk mistook the Kestrels for another Sparrowhawk, it was interesting to watch.

Here the Sparrowhawk flew into the Ash tree where one of the Kestrels was perched and briefly settled next to the Kestrel.

I left the young birds and went off on my butterfly hunt.  On my way back I came across the Kestrels once again and this time they were showing very well close to me.

Here the Kestrel flew past me at eye level and appears to be watching me as as much I was watching it.

This provides some idea of how I was looking down on the Kestrels.

Sadlu a background of dead Ash trees.

Headless but it has something with the immature checkered plumage and brown of the harvested field below.

I picked this immature Kestrel hovering over the slope of the fort, with the grasses and flowers blurred in the foreground.

Looking out to the north once more one of the young Kestrels drifted past me heading back to the area where I had first seen them.

I walked on and picked up the adult male Kestrel in the area of the slope that drops down and around to the steep hill.  At first it was perched in a conifer, but then took off and flew past me.

Banking at me.

Hovering in the corner as the path drops down and this allowed ne to get to eye level with the Kestrel.  There was no movement in the wings to hover, just the wind ruffling the feathers.

After an unsuccessful hunt it regained height once more without any effort and then flew past me.  I like to think it was watching me as it did so.

A wonderful experience an the vantage point of the fort provides an excellent opportunity to really appreciate the flying skills of this lovely little falcon.