18th July - Old Winchester Hill, Hampshire

With some good reports of butterflies around Magdalen and St Catherine's Hill I decided to visit Old Winchester Hill once again. As we got out of the car there were several Red Admiral on the bramble in the car park, but we never expected to see so many as we left the car park and headed towards the top path.

Red Admiral were everywhere, and as you looked more would appear.  As we walked along the top path they just kept coming and for the whole visit they must have been hundreds.

They were joined by quite a few Peacock looking quite splendid.

Coming out on to the top path we came across the first Dark-green Fritillary.  They could be seen darting over the grass and then through the stems searching for a suitable flower to nectar on.

Also in amongst the grass were Marbled Whites, but many were showing quite a tatty appearance as they come to the end of their flight season.

But one or two were still quite immaculate.

As the path narrows there is a large clump of bramble on the right hand side.  On my last visit at the start of the month the bramble was quite an attraction to the butterflies, but as I approached them I could see that there were even more nectaring on the bramble flowers.

When you see the number of butterflies like we could today you have to wonder if we have a problem with butterflies.  I have never seen so many.  As you would expect from my earlier comments, Red Admirals were the most numerous, but there were so many others.

An immaculate male Brimstone, probably a second brood individual.

And a lovely Painted Lady.

Small White.

Of course the Red Admiral

And the beautiful Peacock.

At the weekend at Titchfield I had been able to get close to a Holly Blue but it never opened the wings to show the upper wings.  This morning there was a female showing very well with open wings showing off the deeper blue tips to the wings.

Then closed, the normal view of this butterfly.  A particular characteristic of this blue is that it will fly high off the ground, distinguishing it from other blues. In this respect, they are more similar in behaviour to a hairstreak.

This was probably a second brood, the summer brood.  Males of the spring and summer brood are similar in appearance, but females of the summer brood have a much broader dark band on the upperside of the forewings than those of the spring brood.

Here a male showing the thin dark blue edging.

Both sexes visit a variety of nectar sources such as Bramble, Holly and Forget-me-not. However, they do seem to have a preference for honeydew rather than nectar. The males will also come down to the ground to take salts and minerals from damp mud and animal waste.

I was trying to photograph all of the different species, here a Gatekeeper.

And a Large White.

Quite a few Comma about.

Comma and Peacock.

The Comma

The bramble bank, if you zoom in it is possible to make out the tree larger butterflies, Red Admiral, Peacock and Comma.

One more Red Admiral.

And finally an Essex Skipper.

As we met the track leading to the fort we disturbed a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, but could relocate it.  We headed to the lower path to the fort and the butterflies kept coming.

A Small Tortoiseshell on the acrimony

Marbled White on the bank at eye level.

The Marbled White is often found with parasitic red mites, Trombidium breei in particular, attached to its thorax, although such parasitism does not appear to affect the butterfly in any way.  We saw several Marbled Whites with these mites

A bonus was an active Silver Y moth nectaring on knapweed.

We walked around the Hill Fort and in the moat which was sheltered from the wind there were more butterflies.  Another Painted Lady.

Large White on the Scabious.

A Small Skipper.

Of course plenty of the Dark-green Fritillaries, this one a female.

Another day flying moth that I am not sure of the identification.  Looking through my books this resembles a Manchester Treble Bar, but they would not be expected to be found in this habitat and location.  So if anyone thinks differently I would be more than interested to know.

On the north slope there were many Marbled Whites.

As we completed the circuit of the hill fort I found the one butterfly I was hoping to see, a Chalk Hill Blue.  As its name suggests, the Chalk Hill Blue is found on chalk downland, although limestone downland is also used. The adult butterfly is most-often seen in bright sunshine, where the ground may appear to shimmer with the activity of hundreds, if not thousands, of males searching for a mate just a few inches above the ground. The distribution of this species follows the distribution of Horseshoe Vetch which, in turn, follows the distribution of chalk and limestone grassland. 

Unfortunately this was the best view obtained and the only one seen.

We returned on the lower path and then headed down the steep slope towards the copse.  In the grass on the side of the path was a single Brown Argus.

The sun had now retreated behind the clouds.  I had hoped for more Chalk Hills and maybe an early Silver-spotted Skipper, but as we walked the lower path there were hardly and butterflies at all.  Coming up the slope towards the car park I picked up a Small Skipper on knapweed.  As I photographed it I noticed the proboscis coming out and I fired off a burst.  When I looked at the images this one was my favourite, the curl of the proboscis and the antenna making a treble clef!

Walking back into the car park the Red Admiral were still about in huge numbers.  I don't think I have seen so many butterflies as there were this morning, the reserve is a wonderful place at this time of year.