17th August - Old Winchester Hill, Hampshire

The forecast had looked perfect, but when I got up there was mist and quite thick at that.  I was meeting Ian at Old Winchester Hill, and we were hoping that there would be a few migrants about, however mist is not a good weather condition for grounding migrants so it was with some disappointment as we headed down the slope from the car park.  There was bird song, but mostly from resident birds, the overcast skies and a strong easterly wind was not good.  We made our way to the bottom of the hill, paused to watch a few tits and a Chiffchaff, then walked through a silent wood and then the steep slope.  At the top we decided to walk along the path to the fort.  A week a go this was so busy with Willow Warblers dominant, to day there was nothing.

We reached the entrance to the fort and finally heard some calls, eventually a warbler appeared and immediately posed an identification problem.

Pale legs pointed to Willow Warbler, but the wings did not look long enough.  It then flew to a dead branch and in the light had a lemony wash on the breast, again maybe Willow Warbler.

Here the wing projection looks short.

But back home and going back to the first photograph the wings do seem to extend beyond the rump, so I finally settled on Willow Warbler.

More calls in the bushes had us searching and I managed a glimpse of a Redstart, but we never found it.  Another warbler appeared and this time it was clearly a Willow Warbler, pale legs and a strong wing projection.

We decided to walk the fort in an anti clockwise direction and next up was a Yellowhammer, probably the same bird I photographed last week as it was carrying seed.

Then Ian picked up a young Great Spotted Woodpecker and it climbed the dead branch to show well at the top of the Ash Tree.

As we walked around the fort, the skies were clearing, the low cloud lifting and we were now hopeful that the other reason for being here, the butterflies would be OK with some warm sunshine.

We crossed the centre of the fort, and having given up on migrant birds we were now after the special butterfly of this reserve and that needed sunshine.  Walking down the slope the Chalk Hill Blues were scattering in front of our footsteps.

At the bottom of the slope we met a man who told us that there were two Autumn Lady's-tresses close to the path.  We thanked him and went to look.  Having never seen this orchid before Ian looked it up and we could see a tall spike with white flowers, what we didn't check though was the size and we started to search for a significantly tall flower, similar to the butterfly orchids.  When we couldn't find anything Ian decided to change the approach and to look for something smaller and this was the solution, we soon found a couple of greyish green spikes with white flowers about 15 centimetres tall.

This is the UK's latest flowering orchid, one of three species in the genera, the others do not overlap, all having different habitats

The Autumn Lady's-tresses is found on calcareous soils and places where the soil is thin.  The stem is covered in pale hairs that gives it the greyish furry appearance.  The flowers are tubular and ice-white in colour with a green spot.

What wasn't immediately obvious to me was the spiralling of the flowers around the stem and it is this that gives the flower it's name, the helix of flowers bearing a similarity to lady's hair.  A tress is an old-fashioned word for a curl or braid, but it's used more loosely now as a word for long hair. If someone admires your beautiful tresses, they love your long flowing hair. 

It soon became obvious that there were many of these delicate and beautiful flowers and that we had to be careful not to step on them.

As we were concentrating on the orchids we did not notice the clouds building from the west and the sunshine beginning to disappear.  The Chalk Hill Blues were still about though.

Ever positive we continued on the walk back around the slope path.  There were few butterflies but we did get a glimpse of a Spotted Flycatcher.  Looking down from the slope I noticed this sign.  I wasn't aware that this area was used in the second World War for mortar testing and apparently some of the areas still have not been cleared of unexploded ordnance, this probably explains why there are so many dead Ash trees that have not been cleared.

There were a few butterflies about, mostly Meadow Browns, but also a few Common Blues.

Walking down the steep slope we disturbed a Green Woodpecker.  It was still quiet in the wood and coming out at the bottom we were encouraged as the sun came out.

Every so often you would disturb a cricket or grasshopper and you would look quickly to confirm it wasn't what we were looking for.  It was also quite interesting to look at the insects a little closer.

This one is a Stripe-winged Grasshopper

Commonly found on chalk downs and soils, this one is a female.

A surprise was this Black-tailed Skimmer on the path, another female.

More expected was an Adonis Blue, the second brood is just emerging and this was an exceptional newly emerged male Adonis.

At the turn where the path heads up the slope to the car park we stopped for a female Chalk Hill Blue on a ground thistle.

As we watched the Chalk Hill I noticed that there were more Autumn Lady's Tresses here and this explained why the path was partially roped off.  The number of times we have passed this and completely missed them.

This area is a strong hold for Silver-spotted Skipper, the last skipper to appear here in the UK and probably the prettiest.  They like warm conditions, ideally warm and sunny.  The sun was now out and there was plenty of blue sky so we decided to spend some time searching and this proved successful.  One zipped past me and settled on a Scabious flower head.

They can be incredibly quick and spring off never to be seen again.  This one left the scabious but thankfully we were able to re-find it, although it did not stay long.

We spent some time searching for more and in doing so found this Small Heath.

And a purple Field Grasshopper!

We decided to have some lunch and then to go and search the south slopes once again now that the sun seemed to be in for the afternoon.

After lunch we took the top path.  Plenty of Meadow Browns about and the Brimstone were now flying in numbers.  However it was a dragonfly on the path that took the interest, a male Ruddy Darter.

Then another interesting cricket, this time a Dark-bush Cricket.  This showing the extremely long antennae, crickets have long ones while grasshopper antenna are quite short in comparison.

The Dark Bush Cricket is quite common in Southern England, it likes woodland edges and rides and often feeds on bramble of which there was plenty here.

It is almost wingless and is mostly dark brown with a yellow underside.

With plenty of Brimstone about it wasn't difficult to get a nice close up of one.

On reaching the south side of the harvested fields provided some lovely patterns.

As we walked down the slope there were still many Chalk Hill Blues about.

Reaching a sheltered spot we soon turned lucky, a Silver-spotted Skipper.

It then "pinged" off, but we were able to re-locate it and it showed really well.

This warmth-loving skipper is relatively-local, but is fairly easy to identify, since it is the only skipper found in the British Isles that has the distinctive white spots on the underside of the hindwings, which give the butterfly its name. 

Like other "golden" skippers, the male is distinguished from the female by the sex brand on its forewings, which is a line of specialised scent scales. This is a male.

\it seemed quite relaxed and dormant so Ian tried to see how close he could get and actually managed to get it to perch on the tip of his finger.

The range of the Silver-spotted Skipper contracted in the 20th century due to a reduction in grazing stock as well as the onset of myxomatosis which severely affected rabbit populations. Recent years have been more promising and this is one of the few species that is increasing its range.

Like most skippers, this is a fast-flying species that flies close to the ground, and can be difficult to follow when in flight. The male of this species is more-frequently encountered than the female. Both sexes spend the majority of their time either basking or feeding, and a wide variety of nectar sources is used, including various species of Thistle. The butterfly will find the warmest patches of ground on which to bask, enjoying the warmth of paths, rabbit scrapes and other patches of bare earth which have been baked by the sun. This species is inactive in overcast conditions.

Adults feed primarily on Autumn Gentian, Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, dandelions, Field Scabious, knapweeds, Red Clover, thistles and Wild Basil.

Eggs are laid in the grasses, primarily Sheep's Fescue and the larva emerges in March, but does not feed on the eggshell. It forms a tent by spinning several leaf blades together from which it feeds, creating a new tent as it grows, and as the surrounding foodplant is eaten. The larva will often wander a considerable distance in order to find a dense tussock in which to pupate.

Before pupation, the larva spins a cocoon very close to the ground, in a grass tussock. This stage lasts around 2 weeks.

The skipper then zipped off, we found one or two more, but in the warm sunshine they were not as confiding as the early ones.

We climbed the slope one more time and then walked around the fort's moat with butterflies tumbling out of the grass as we walked, it was a wonderful sight.  A surprise was this Essex Skipper in amongst the grass in the moat.

We made our way around the fort and then on to the parallel slope path, here we found another Field Grasshopper, this time in the commoner brown colour.

A nice close up that shows the exo-skeleton and spines on the legs.

Walking down the steep slope we came across a young Kestrel, one of this year's brood.  We had been hearing them calling from the paths, constantly pestering their parents to feed them.

Walking through the wood and along the bottom path I felt quite weary, a combination of the hills and slopes and the warm temperatures was beginning to take it out on me.  At the bottom of the path that leads to the car park.  We spent some time and found one Silver-spotted Skipper, this time feeding on Ground Thistle

A fitting end to a day that started off looking as it would not deliver, we didn't get the number of migrants but we did get the skipper and some great shots of a beautiful little butterfly.