20th April - Beacon Hill, Noar Hill and Broxhead Common, Hampshire

It was still cold with a northerly wind, but, as with the previous days, the forecast was for plenty of sunshine.  It was on the back of this Ian and I had decided to make this the first real butterfly day of the year.  In addition we were also going to visit somewhere we had not been to before, beacon Hill, up from the village of Warnford.

Beacon Hill is one of several hills along the South Downs that afford wonderful views down and out across the Solent and the Isle of Wight.  The nearest hill being Old Winchester and it was interesting to get a view of a more familiar site.

While waiting for Ian to arrive a Nuthatch entertained in the car park.

Some classic agile Nuthatch poses.

WE left the car park and walked south alongside a copse, eventually coming out into the open and some amazing views.

A group of four Ravens flew over, coming quite close.

You go through a gate and then you come across a view down and out looking south and east.  Cowslips were all over the grass.

Looking south.

As with Old Winchester Hill, the area is a magnet for raptors with Buzzard, Kestrel and of course Red Kites gliding around the slopes.

The wind was very cold, coming from the north, but in the shelter of the bushes the sun was now warm and there were pockets of warmth.  In one of these Ian found, what must be a recently emerged Green Hairstreak.

The sunlight was catching the wings turning them an iridescent green.

I don't recall seeing the spots on the rear wing before, are these part of the hairstreak?

We walked around to the north side and watched the kites and a pair of kestrels in the field below.  the wind was very cold.  Looking down the colours in the bushes was beautiful.

A closer view of the colours.

Walking back a Buzzard glided past us in the breeze.

And a Raven, showing the classic diamond shape tail in a perfect silhouette

Before leaving the views across the downs I stopped to photograph two trees below, a lovely contrast with the green of the fields.

Walking back to the cars there were two Red-legged Partridges in the adjacent field.

Ian and I both wished they had been Grey Partridge, oh well.

We left the car park and headed back down to Warnford.  There are a series of watercress beds alongside the A32 that are no longer in use, I slowed down to check for possible Green Sandpiper, Ian pulled over and I did like wise and he pointed out a Grey Wagtail on the basin.

A Female preening.

Next stop, was to be Noar Hill and the annual April pilgrimage to find the Duke of Burgundy.  It was cold, but with the dips and pits at Noar Hill, when the sun is out there will be warm areas for the butterflies to hopefully thrive.

Walking around the reserve too start there was no sign of any butterflies, but there were Early Purple Orchids.

These orchids differ from the Green-winged we saw last week at Durlston, mainly by the heavy spots on the base leaves.

As we reached mid day we finally started to see some butterflies, my first Green-veined White of the year.

In the pit at the far end of the reserve we searched for the Duke without any luck, this is usually the best area to find them.  Walking around I came across a male Brimstone resting on Cowslips while the sun was behind the clouds.

As we left the pit, we came across a Holly Blue, another first for the year.  It settled on some blossom again while the sun was again behind the clouds.

The light was difficult and it was a case of trying from all angles to get the best views, these were the best.

We decided to have lunch while the sun continued to warm up the grass areas, sitting around I was taken by the Cowslips around me.

After lunch we decide to walk around the reserve once more, but we did not get far as we came across a couple who pointed out a Duke of Burgundy for us.  We have been looking for these delightful little butterflies every year at this time for twelve years, and here were were again looking at a smart male.

The breeze was still able to get down into the sheltered hollow and this lifted the wings to show the pattern on the underside.

Here the hairs on the back refracting the light to show off some rainbow colours.

Some pictures from a different angle.

We saw three, all males in the same area, but as we reached the end of the reserve, we came across another male, this time sat with wings closed.

Note the position of the antennae, close together, apparently they do this when the weather is cold, and it was with the sun now becoming more watery.

We left the Dukes and decided to resume our battle with the Emperor Moth, this time we decided to visit Broxhead Common, another short drive away.  Walking on to the common we were faced with heather and birch trees just coming into leaf.  We hung the pheromone lures on a couple of trees just above the heather and then stood back and waited.  Almost immediately we had two moths flying around us, but again they were not settling.  The sky was now almost overcast, maybe this was dictating their behaviour.  I walked to my lure where two more moths were circling it, then Ian called me as one had settled in the heather at last.

I rushed over and we took it in turns to move the heather to get a clear view.  The Emperor moth is a hairy moth that is grey-brown with big peacock-like eyespots on all four wings and pinky-red markings at the wingtips. It is the only large moth with eyespots on all four wings. The smaller, eyed hawk-moth, has two large eyespots on the hindwings only.  The moth was just showing the orange hindwing and eye spot.

The spectacular Emperor moth is Britain's only resident member of the Saturniidae family. It is reasonably common over much of Britain, occupying moorland and open country.

The males, which have bright orange hindwings, the females are much greyer, fly during the daytime in search of the greyer females, which fly at night. Both sexes are on the wing in April and May.

Males can be seen flying swiftly about and can be mistaken for butterflies. The females rest in low vegetation during the day, releasing the pheromones to attract males. Which is what we did to attract this male.

They zig zag low across open ground; an urgency born from limited energy stored as a caterpillar. Lacking mouth parts to feed, they are on borrowed time, time to be invested solely in searching for their Empress.

Here a close up of the feathery antennae, that only the male has to sense the pheromones released by the female, or us!

It then settled, folding the upper wings over the orange hind wings.

We walked around the common, but did not come across any more moths.  There were plenty of Linnets about, showing well at the top  of the gorse.

As we walked towards the cars once more, again the newly emerging leaves in the birch trees looked lovely.

The first butterfly day of the year proved to be a complete success, rounded off with finally pinning down the spectacular Emperor Moth.