9th July - Abbotts Wood and Noar Hill, Hampshire

We had entered a phase of weather that would soon become known as a heatwave, the prior week had seen the weather improve with sunshine and beautiful blue skies and Friday was just wall to wall sun and very warm.  Everything was going to plan.  This time of year there is a small window when His Imperial Majesty, the Purple Emperor is around, restricted by weekends only is bad enough, but add in the unpredictable British weather and that window becomes even smaller.

So it with very high hopes I set off for Abbotts Wood in glorious sunshine, the temperature not too hot.  Unfortunately I was not going to be meeting Ian as he was on holiday in the Lake District. On arriving at the car park around 7:30 the barrier was down so I parked outside and headed off down the main park.  This part of the track was in plenty of shade, the temperature was just above twenty degrees.  I expected to encounter either a Ringlet or Meadow Brown as the first butterfly of the day, so was surprised when a White Admiral cruised past me in the shade of the trees.

The sun was breaking through the tree and areas of the forest floor was being lit up.  This patch of bramble caught my eye as the sun picked up one of the fronds among the darkness of the surround leaves.

The path then opens up as it becomes a crossroad.  Here the sun can light up the hazel and bramble that can be found beneath the trees.  This is another good spot to find the early morning butterflies and a Large Skipper was warming up on a Hazel leaf.

Further along the path opens up and there were butterflies everywhere, more White Admirals, Ringlets bouncing along in amongst the grasses and the gorgeous tangerine orange Silver-washed Fritillaries zipping up and down the track, settling on the leaves to charge up.

The bracken is a very good place for the butterflies to warm up and several could be seen at rest on the fronds including this Ringlet.

The path winds around sweeping bends and then up and down until you arrive at a meeting place of three paths.  Sallow and Oak trees line the edge of the paths and are the areas where the Purple Emperor show.  The weather was perfect, not too hot yet and the breeze not too strong.

It was though, maybe, a little early for the Purple Emperor, so I walked up the path to see what else was about and found several Comma.  To me this looks like a very sophisticated Gent standing on the corner

Here I love the shadow cast onto the leaf, almost bat like.

Showing off the white "comma" that gives the butterfly its name.

There were at least three White Admirals, but the only one to settle was this slightly wing damaged individual.

And another Silver-washed Fritillary nectaring on the bramble flowers.

But as I watched these butterflies the weather started to change, heavy cloud was rolling across the sky and the amount of sunshine was reduced until the cloud cover was 100% and the assembly point took on a completely different look, from that I had encountered when I had arrived just before 8:00.

It was still war though and the re were butterflies about, but mostly Ringlet and Meadow Brown.  I decided to try and ride it out, it was just 9:00 and the forecast was indicating it would clear in about an hour.  I busied myself by taking some photographs of the grasses against the dark background.

I waited and if anything the cloud cover became heavier.  At 10:00 I decided to go back to the car and head into Farnham.  I had some errands to run and there was the chance to grab a coffee and hope that the sun did burn off the cloud.

On the way to the car park I was surprised to find this Marbled White along the track.

I spent about an hour in Farnham and as headed back to Alice Holt and Abbotts Wood I could see some significant breaks in the cloud, I was now a little more hopeful.  Leaving the car I set off down the main track with some brief episodes of sunshine breaking through the surrounding trees.

Just past the crossroads I heard a familiar song above me and I stopped to watch a Firecrest, the first I have seen here.

It is also the first time I can recall having seen a Firecrest in July.  The plumage wasn't as vibrant as those seen earlier in the year and the likelihood was that this bird had bred and that the song was to announce the possibility of its mate sitting on a second brood.

With it much brighter now I continued on, the Meadow Browns and Ringlets were still busy in the grass and bracken, but they were now joined by Small and Large Whites.  This a Large White and it still amuses me that they are referred to along with its smaller cousin as Cabbage Whites, the reason for this name is the fact that the caterpillars will eat various types of brassicas.  Up close the Large White is a stunning butterfly

As I walked along the path a butterfly flew past me at knee height and settled on the path in front.  At first I was excited as I thought it could be HIM, but as I got closer I could immediately see it was a White Admiral.

On reaching the assembly point there were butterflies everywhere, more large and small whites and art least four Silver-washed Fritillaries which showed very well for the camera.

But then another slightly duller fritillary appeared, as you can see the under wing has a green wash.  I didn't pick it up at first but is clearly a Dark Green Fritillary.

And here the duller and different orange and black markings.

On either side of me as I stood watching the oak trees for any movement there were thistles and bramble.  With the sun now out they were magnets for the butterflies.  A Meadow Brown on the thistle heads.

Joined by a Comma, one of three that were about.

A Large Skipper.

That then perched nicely on one of the grass seed heads.

But it was the Silver-washed that attracted the most attention.

In between these butterflies I had a brief view of a distant Purple Emperor as it flew around the tallest Oak tree, there were also one or two Purple Hairstreak buzzing around the oak leaves.  It was another Purple Hairstreak that made me scan the Oak in search of where it landed, as I scanned I found a familiar shape sitting on one of the Oak leaves.

Zooming in there was a better view of the butterfly.

It was then a task to direct the others that had arrived on to the butterfly, for me it was blindingly obvious, but others just couldn't seem to get on it.  Slowly it opened its wings and while the photographs do not show the detail I could see a glint of blue-purple as the sun caught the wings.

Just as the last person managed to get on to it the butterfly flew off, edging around the Oak tree and out of sight.  We have views of possibly two females flying around the Sallows and another possible male over the Oak tree once again.  In between this a pair of Silver-washed Fritillaries were performing their mating dance where the male loops over and under the female dropping pheromones' to attract here attention.  This was the best effort I managed to capture it.

Unfortunately for him she wasn't interested and they split away.

The butterflies were joined by several dragonflies, along the ride there was An Emperor Dragonfly, Brown and Southern Hawker, non of which bothered to stop.

Then what we were all waiting for, happened a large butterfly came down from the oak and flew low across the path.  It settled at the edge of the path having found something to imbibe on.

The Purple Emperor shuffled around amongst the vegetation with the proboscis probing the ground.

Then it flew again and settled once more and started to imbibe once more.

Then it flew again a little further down the path, appearing to be searching for something to settle on.  It passed some horse dung before settling on the path.

Unfortunately this was the furthest it opened its wings before flying off once again. 

 It flew around more dung, but clearly didn't find it suitable and moved on.  coming back towards us at quite a pace.  We tried to follow it but it disappeared and despite a search around the area it was no where to be seen.

Satisfied that I had managed for the second year running to experience one of the stunning butterflies of the UK on the ground I decided after a good search that it was time to move on, so I headed back to the car park.

After some lunch I decided to drop into the RSPB reserve at Farnham Heath.  I have never been here before and was impressed.  Apparently there are Sand Lizards, Nightjar and Woodcock here, but of course I wasn't going to see them at this time of day.  In fact I didn't see anything at all.  I had been told and it was the reason why I came that there were Silver Studded Blue Butterflies here, but I never saw a single butterfly.

So the next stop was to be Noar Hill.  I have never visited the reserve at this time of year and was curious as to what would be about.  Another reason was the report the previous day of a Large Tortoiseshell, but I doubted that would still be around.

Getting out of the car I realised that it was now very hot with beautiful clear skies.  The view from the bottom of the path that leads up to the reserve.

Walking up to the main gate I saw my first Gatekeeper of the year, but unfortunately it didn't stop.  Walking into the reserve I was greeted with many many orchids.  The majority of them were Pyramidal Orchids.

But there were also many Common Spotted Orchids in their various different variants and colours.

The whole reserve was covered with wild flowers.  The Ox-eye Daisies were dominant there blooms lying just below the grasses their heads turned to the sun.

Photographs don't really do the scene justice.

Marbled Whites were drifting around the flowers and there was a single male Brimstone.

I walked around the reserve taking in the flowers and watching the butterflies buzz past me in the heat.  I made my way to the far end of the reserve where in April we would be confident to find the Duke.  Like everywhere else the area was covered in orchids and along the sides of the quarry there were good clumps of Valerian.  One Dark Green Fritillary was holding this as it's territory flying back and forth before settling on the Valerian to fuel up.

I managed to catch up with it again when it settled on a Scabious flower head.

There were plenty of Large and Small Skippers about, but I was looking for an Essex Skipper and after several near misses I managed to find this one.

The Marbled Whites were also a little more confiding here, settling for some time on the Scabious.

The red blobs on them are mites called trombidium breei. They do not seem to harm the butterfly and they attach themselves to the thorax or legs of the butterfly and transfer from host to host when the butterflies alight to nectar at flowers.

Some species of butterfly are more prone than others, as well as the Marbled White others that are often seen with red mites are Meadow Brown males; Gatekeeper; Common Blue and Small Skipper.

As I left the quarry I came across this Ringlet settled on a white flower head against a pitch black background.

As I walked back through the reserve towards the gate I tried to take some images that portrayed the beauty of the wild flowers that dominated this small reserve.  Pyramidal Orchids amongst the daisies, fleawort and grasses.

A day that started out with great expectations and wonderful weather wobbled a bit at first and threatened not to deliver.  But eventually all turned out well, the Imperial Majesty was seen and grounded for me.  Noar Hill was just stunning and I saw a total of twenty butterfly species in the day, while not beating the July record it is always to manage 20 in the day.

The Purple Emperor sighting usually signals the end of the butterfly madness for the year, but this year I have the potential for a good number and there are plenty to still find before the autumn takes over.