15th June - Gosport, Browndown, South and North, and Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

The weather all week has been horrendous with heavy rain and low temperatures for the time of year.  I had arranged to meet Ian at Monks Walk in Gosport with a view to visiting the little patch of waste land on the other side of the round-a-bout, our target being butterflies, however when I left home I did so in rain, and it wasn't until halfway through the journey this eased and there was some sign of changing fortunes.

The specialty here is the White-letter Hairstreak, a little patch of Wych Elms holds a small colony and they are easy to access.  We were here early because last year (albeit a week later) we had managed to see this delightful little butterfly low down on the bramble before they head up into the heights of the Elm trees to spend the rest of the day.

As I waited for Ian to arrive the sun was out and giving some sign of warmth, bees nectared on the bramble flowers that were just emerging, and across the field in a gap between the trees and bushes you could just make out the bridge of the Queen Elizabeth 2 aircraft carrier in Portsmouth naval docks.

Crossing the road with the sun out and entering te old car park there was an air of anticipation, but this evaporated when there was nothing to see on the bramble other than flies and a few hover flies including this smart little fly, Dasysyrphus tricintus

So it was back to standing and waiting, looking longingly at the Elms, and also the bramble for anything that would resemble a small butterfly.  A Meadow Brown put in an appearance as did a couple of these Running Crab Spiders Tibellus oblongus.

Quite a large (about 10 mm) and elongate pale creamy brown spider with various markings, and usually a darker stripe down the centre of the abdomen. The males look similar to the females although their bodies are slimmer.  They actively pursue their preys, as they do not make webs. This genus was once considered a subfamily within the sedentary 'crab spiders' but today has been split and is considered a separate genus of slender crab spiders.

Every year we visit here we are always impressed by the bird life seen over head and around the bushes, today was no exception.  Sparrowhawk, and Buzzard passed overhead, our attention attracted to them by the mobbing of crows.  Both Grey Heron and Little Egret flew over, and feeding high above us were several Swifts.

In the bushes were singing Blackcap, Robin and Blackbird while family groups of Blue Tits were in the oak trees, the adults being run ragged by the juveniles, and also a lot of Long-tailed Tits, the family group though seemed a little more at ease in comparison with the continual begging of the young Blue Tits.

Time to enjoy the morning sunshine.

And tidy up a little bit.

Movement in the bramble as we stared at the leaves produce a female Blackcap.

A speckled Wood put in an appearance.

While the Meadow Brown sat on one of the bramble leaves to enjoy the sunshine.

A small butterfly with a flitting flight sent the pulses racing only for it to turn out to be a Holly Blue.  It settled with wings closed.

But as the sun came around it started to open them, but only partially as if to tease.

We had seen bees and flys at the top of the elms, but finally our watch paid off and at least two White-letter Hairstreaks were engaged in some duels around the top of the trees.  When one settled we were able to get a record shot of the butterfly.

We knew from experience that they would not now come down to the bramble leaves and decided that we should move on.  Before leaving though we walked around the area on Monks Walk.  I commented on the fact that there was no sign of any butterflies at all when Ian gasped, and pointed out an immaculate male Marbled White.  I flew around for a short while as we followed it with some expectancy.  Finally it settled and showed off those beautiful black and white markings.

Marbled White's never fail to impress, of course they are not a "white" but a member of the "browns".  Here a close up of the markings on the upper wing, a lovely blackish brown checkerboard.

It moved and settled quickly in the grass again, and this allowed a head on shot looking down at this lovely butterfly.

While we had not managed some great shots of the hairstreak the appearance of the year's marbled white pushed that disappointment to one side.

Moving on our next destination was to be Browndown south, the heather and heath here holds a small population of Silver-studded Blues, however the cloud was building up quite quickly and the prospects did not look good.

And so it was to be, a walk a round the bell heather failed to find any butterflies let alone Silver-studded Blue.  Whitethroats sang from the birch trees and family groups of Magpie called noisily from somewhere within the deeper bushes.

Just as we were reaching the road a small brown butterfly flew past me and settled on a grass seed head.  This was the tattiest Small Copper I think I have ever seen.

From Browndown South it was short drive to Browndown North.  It was now completely overcast and the wind had picked up as the tide was coming in.  Walking along the shingle path a Dartford Warbler sang from a nearby gorse bush.

I was able to get a little closer as the bird sang.

Target here was Purple Hairstreak, but I don't think either of us believed we would find any, nevertheless we shook the oak branches and bashed the leaves but nothing appeared.  We had a quick look around for any possible Nightjar, but soon realised it was all hopeless in the conditions.  There had not been any sighting of a butterfly, but walking back we came across this day flying moth, a Yellow Shell, on and around the gorse.

Rain was now in the air and that meant finding some shelter some where, the decision was taken to head to Titchfield Haven, at least we could take up that well know pastime adopted on June days of trying to get an acceptable in flight photograph of the Swifts.

As we walked from the cars to the visitor centre a Kestrel was hunting over the reed bed, another summer distraction a hovering Kestrel.

We walked back to the Meon Shore Hide, just outside the hide a Lesser Whitethroat was singing and giving some brief views but never enough for a photograph.  Despite the rain the water levels were low, and another feature was the relatively quiet atmosphere.  At this time you would expect the noise from the Black-headed Gulls to still be a feature, there were some calls but not as incessant as it can be

A Green Sandpiper appeared on the mud to the left hand side of the hide.

A first for the year, and a bird that begged the question, was this a returning migrant?  Green Sandpipers are always one of the earliest signs of the autumn migration which is possibly why this bird was here.

Another feature of the South Scrape was the number of Avocet, 66 were recorded in the visitor centre and it was difficult to dispute that count, they seemed to be everywhere.

What were missing though were Avocet chicks, the word in the visitor centre was that a Fox has got through a hole in the fence and has decimated the Avocet breeding this year.  This may also account for the reduced Black-headed Gull activity, I am sure the Fox didn't stop at taking a few gull chicks as well.

The water was providing some lovely reflections of the feeding Avocet.

Watching the Avocet sweeping their bills threw the thick mud ad then eating something was difficult to watch, what do they find in the mud?

Bit as is the way with Avocet they never seem to get dirty, they always manage to look immaculate, unlike some birds out on the scrape (yes Canada Goose I am talking about you!).

There were a few teal, and a couple of Shoveler feeding along with the Mallard and Gadwall.  Of the waders there were a few Redshank, Turnstone plus just under 30 Black-tailed Godwits in various stages of plumage, from a couple in the brick red breeding plumage to the basic winter fair.

A Great Black-backed Gull would make regular fly pasts in the hope of finding something to take, these fly pasts would attract the attention of the Black-headed Gulls who would look to chase it off.  There were at least four Common Terns at the back of the Scrape, and this Sandwich Tern flew into a close island to preen and wash.

We decided to leave the hide, and just as we did a group of Oystercatcher flew over, always a nice catch in flight, here showing the non-breeding plumage.

We walked around to the Pumfrett Hide where we stopped outside totally mesmerised by the Swifts hunting around the trees and bushes and out over the scrapes.

As always loads of frames taken but many discarded for being blurred out of focus or only showing part of the bird.  Here are the best of what I was able to take.

So we finally ended the day with some Swift photography, it wouldn't be June without it.  I left a little early but Ian reported later that there had been a fox and cubs on the scrape, they clearly have a problem here and need to find the hole in the fence.

After the poor weather of the week you have to regard today as a success despite the inclement conditions from mid morning onward.  We did get White-letter Hairstreak, and the first Marbled Whites, there is also plenty of time to catch up with the others we didn't see as well.  Lets hope the summer starts soon.

8th June - Martin Down NNR, Hampshire

Storms on Friday had given way to breezy but a partially sunny morning.  It was a early start as it is just under an hour from home to Sillen Lane in the village of Martin on the north west border of the county.  All went well until about 4 miles from my destination when I was flashed by an oncoming car.  As I was trying to think what he could be warning me about I turned the corner to find a tree blown down and blocking the road.  I hastily turned around and drove back to a turning to try and warn Ian.  After waiting ten minutes I wondered if he had already arrived so set off on the diversion.  As I pulled into the car park Ian was there.  It turns out someone cut through the tree and it was passable, which meant that he must have gone through just after I decided to turn off.

After all the drama it was time to focus on the task at hand.  Today we were hoping that the weather would hold, deliver some sunshine and produce the Martin Down summer specialties, breeding birds, butterflies and orchids.

Leaving the car park we walked up the hill listening for the purring song of the Turtle Dove.  It didn't take too long to find a singing bird, sitting on top of a hawthorn bush in the middle of a dense clump of hawthorn and Blackthorn.  For once though the view was obscured.

Martin Down has become an annual pilgrimage to see Turtle Dove, with them being loyal to the grassland areas and hawthorn scrub.  About 5 or 6 pairs seem to be present.  Today we did not spend too much time searching for others.

It seemed quite settled so I scrambled through the scrub to get to the middle of the bushes in an attempt to get a closer view.  This I just managed to do as after this shot it decided to move on and flew off.

We carried on walking through the wet grass, the rain of Friday having given this part of Hampshire a good soaking.  As we approached Bokerly Dyke I noticed some white orchids growing under the small Hawthorn bushes on the side of the dyke.

We knew it was a butterfly orchid, but was not sure if this was a lesser or greater.  As we photographed several of the specimens dotted around we had opted for Lesser.

The Lesser Butterfly-orchid holds its two pollen-bearing structures inside its flowers parallel and much closer together, while the Greater Butterfly Orchid has a tall flower spike with loosely clustered, whitish-green flowers, each with spreading sepals and petals, with this information we changed our identification on returning home.

The Greater Butterfly-orchid is a distinctive plant of hay meadows, grasslands and ancient woodlands on chalk soils.  Its flower spike can grow quite tall, displaying up to 30 whitish-green flowers in a loose cluster from May to July. The spreading sepals and petals of the flowers look a bit like the wings of a butterfly.

As well as the butterfly orchids we also found several Southern Marsh Orchids.

We set of heading north along the dyke.  The first butterfly being found a little later, a Common Blue hanging to the petals of a bird's foot trefoil.

Orchids could be seen all over the sides of the ditch, these were Common Spotted Orchids and one had a visitor, a Crab Spider.

Not all spiders make webs to catch their lunch, some use stealth and surprise rather than a sticky trap.  The crab spider is a very small spider but what it lacks in size it makes up for in cunning, courage and ferocity! Although this one is 'white', crab spiders can also be cream, tinged with green and even yellow. It chooses a flower of a matching colour and sits on the petal so it can hardly be seen by the human eye and certainly not by the flying insect eye. An unsuspecting insect flies on to the flower to collect the nectar or pollen and that's it, the spider pounces. It can tackle quite big prey which it stuns with its digestive juices and then it just sits and dissolves it prey.  In this case it doesn’t seem to have completely match the petals of the orchid.

When we visited the Alentejo region of Portugal back in April, I commented then on how those massive grasslands were like Martin Down on speed.  Walking along the dyke the sights and sounds brought that experience back to me.  I could hear skylarks above, and the Corn Buntings jingly-jangly song away in the distance.  However one bird we didn't hear or see in Portugal was the Yellowhammer, and here at Martin Down they were present in abundance singing their "little bit of bread and no cheese" song from the bushes along the ditch and out on the grassland.

I managed to get gradually closer to one as it sang.

The breeze was still quite cool, but when the sun appeared from behind the clouds it was quite warm.  Butterflies flew when we disturbed them, but quickly settle back close to the ground to catch what radiation they could from the sun.

A Common Blue.

As well as singing from above, the Skylarks could be seen sing from the small bushes in amongst the grass.

The Corn Bunting too would be heard well before you actually saw them.  This one singing from behind an elderberry bush.

Our fourth orchid species of the day was a Burnt orchid, so called because of the dark purple at the top of the spike.

We found this one away from the usual spot for this species.  When we reached where we had expected to see them they had just about gone over, which was a shame.

It was once more common than it is now. The burnt or burnt-tip orchid holds on in short downland turf, and occasionally strays into meadows.  It is one of the smaller orchids found in the United Kingdom.

As we stood admiring the orchids a Corn Bunting sang from a post at the top of the dyke.

Another different orchid was found, the fifth for the day, this time a Chalk Fragrant Orchid.

The Common Fragrant-orchid is a robust, medium-sized orchid found on dry and damp grasslands, particularly with chalky soils. Clustering to form cylindrical, densely packed flower spikes, the flowers themselves are usually pink, but can vary from purple to white. 

In bloom during June and July, the Common Fragrant-orchid lives up to its name by producing a sweet, orangery smell that is particularly strong in the evening.

While Ian busied himself with the orchids I stalked a Skylark singing on one of the bushes close by.

It balance precariously on the small bush, being battered by the wind, but was determined to keep singing.

I was conscious that I was passing the Common Spotted Orchids by, mainly because they were everywhere.  I stopped to take this one lovely individual.

Then a sixth orchid species, a Pyramidal Orchid

Like many orchids, it requires the presence of a specific fungus to be present in the soil in order to bloom.  Originally a flower of old, semi-natural chalk and limestone grasslands, including graveyards, the pyramidal orchid has shown a penchant for more artificial environments in recent times. Colonies have appeared along motorways and ring-roads, canals, marinas and even at one time at Stansted airport.

We reached the old shooting ranges, and the low grass and plenty of trefoil was a big attraction to the blue butterflies.  Again we had to walk through the grass to disturb them, but when we did there were plenty about.

A Common Blue.

A female Common Blue

Adonis Blue

Stunning electric blue upper wings.

There is one day in early summer when you get excited about seeing a Meadow Brown butterfly.  Today was that day, the first of the year found by Ian.

As well as the blue butterflies there were lots of Small Heath.  In flight these little butterflies are orange, but as soon as the settle the wings snap shut and you have to make do with the detailed markings on the underside.

One feature of the grasslands was the profusion of white creamy flower stems of the flower dropwort or fern-leaf dropwort.  This is a perennial herb of the family Rosaceae closely related to Meadowsweet. It is found in dry calcareous pastures.

We crossed the road at the north of the reserve and walked into the grass area just behind the woods.  We turned west to start with and headed down a slope.  In the bushes by the gate a Whitethroat obviously had a nest as it was carrying food into the centre of the bush.

We disturbed a Cinnabar moth, not the first of the day, but the first to settle to allow an acceptable photograph.

Large thistles with purple flower heads were everywhere, on one was another Crab Spider.

It clearly hasn't sussed this camouflage thing.

We came across another Turtle Dove calling from the power lines stretching across an open area of hawthorn scrub and grasses, but it flew off as I reached for the camera.  We walked back and crossed to the other side of the field heading east through grass that was sheltered by the trees.  The sun was in and out, when it was out the butterflies were active.  Small Heath were everywhere, but better still were the tiny Brown Argus.  Here a worn individual

A surprise find was this Wood Tiger Moth.  This is a moth of downland and woodland.  The males are seen flying during periods of sunshine while the females are only active at night.

One of the Small Heaths settled on a buttercup flower, wings closed.

We then found another Brown Argus that settled on a grass stem when the sun went in.

We waited to see if it would open up.

It twisted and turned on the grass stem, but never opened up.

I moved on leaving Ian to see if it would open up, in doing so I came across a little worn Grizzled Skipper, again on a buttercup flower.

Tiny drops of water on the petals of the buttercup.

Going back to the Brown Argus it opened up nicely when the sun came out.

More activity on the ground as we chased a Mother Shipton Moth, a pristine Grizzled Skipper.

We finally caught up with the Mother Shipton Moth.

A day flying moth, it prefers sunshine and takes short rapid flights.  It gets its name from the forewing markings which appears to show an old lady or witches hat.

Then the best Brown Argus of the day.

And another day flying moth, a Five-Spot Burnett.

We crossed the road and then had to shelter from a short sharp shower.  We entertained ourselves trying to lure a singing Lesser Whitethroat into the open, but it was having none of it.

As the shower passed we walked on, and came across another Butterfly Orchid, it was here we began to question our earlier identification subsequently confirmed on returning home, a Greater Butterfly Orchid.

Here a close up of the petals and sepals

Swifts hunted over the open grassland, prompting an effort to photograph them as they swooped low over the grass and up over our heads, the best...

We returned to the cars where we had lunch before setting off for the ditch again in sparkling sunshine.  Halfway up the slope there was a copse of Hawthorn, in a sheltered spot I an found several Small Blue butterflies, including this mate caught coupled together

This is our smallest resident butterfly with a wing span that can be a little as 16 mm. The sexes are similar in appearance, although the male upper side is almost black with a dusting of blue scales, whereas the female is darker brown in colour. Both male and female have an underside that is silvery-grey in colour, and not unlike that of the Holly Blue. The Small Blue  butterfly has a large distribution across the British Isles, being found from northern Scotland to the south of England, with colonies also in Wales and Ireland. 

Our walk along the ditch was in search of Marsh Fritillary.  We were aware we were on the cusp of its flying period, but remained ever hopeful, we shared the task of walking along the bottom of the ditch and along the side, but apart from finding more Common Blue and Adonis Blues along with the ever increasing numbers of Meadow Brown our search remained fruitless.  Just time to enjoy the Adonis Blue.

The Common Spotted Orchids.

The widespread grasses blowing freely in the wind contrasted against stormy distant skies.

But as you watch the grasses blowing on the reserve you realise how this landscape has been created by management and not chemicals and pesticides, this is how the land should look, while all around there is much evidence of intense agricultural practice, that while it can look beautiful from a distance, through the patterns created on the landscape by the many different fields and the crops grown in them.

The truth is I would much rather see the random plants and colours that nature can derive.

It was a great day, six species of orchid, eight quality butterflies including five new for the year, and the joy of walking around one of the truly natural reserves in the country