30th July - Old Winchester Hill

Appointments in the morning meant I only had the opportunity to get out after lunch, so decided to meet Ian at Old Winchester Hill.  There has to be an increase in butterfly numbers at some point this year and with the very hot weather this weekend I was hoping it was today.

Leaving the car park there was a good number of Red Admiral on the bramble, nothing near the numbers of last year, but at least six was huge for this year.

Walking on to the top path Brimstone once again were all over the place.

An opportunity for a close up as a male nectared on the scabious.

On reaching the hill fort we walked down the south slope.  The vegetation was quite high at first, then became a lot lower and there were plenty of Six Spot Burnets, they were liking the good number of scabious flowers around.

There a re a couple of late emerging butterflies for the year and the Chalk Hill Blue is one of them, the other the Silver-spotted Skipper.  At the bottom of the slope we suddenly found a few Chalk Hill Blues whizzing around over the grass.  At last one settled on some trefoil.

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, this however was not the case today, but having found one several more appeared. The distribution of this species follows the distribution of Horseshoe Vetch which, in turn, follows the distribution of chalk and limestone grassland. 

Here nectaring on a thistle head.

Another close up.

The sexes are strongly dimorphic; the males being a pale sky blue, and the females being a chocolate brown. The adults use a variety of nectar sources, and the males will also visit, often in some numbers, moist earth or animal droppings to gather salts and minerals.

The adult butterflies feed primarily on Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Field Scabious, knapweeds, Selfheal, thistles (Carduus spp. and Cirsium spp.) and Wild Thyme.

Amongst the Chalk Hills, a female Brown Argus.

We moved back up the slope to the hill fort.  In the tall grasses at the top of the slope there was a Brown Heath Robber Fly embracing a Fly.  But the embrace is not loving.  

All Robber Fly species are fearsome predators and have piercing mouthparts that deliver the most potent toxin known of any fly (although, reassuringly, harmless to humans!). Most species hunt their prey by taking up a suitable perch and then sitting on high alert, the highly mobile head tilting and turning on the look-out for anything that might stray within range, and then darting out to capture it. Prey items vary depending on species but consist largely of other flies (including robberflies in some instances) but also parasitic wasps and sawflies, bugs, beetles and even the odd spider.  All have an elongated body and have long legs that give them a gangly appearance, often with spines on them which help them grasp their prey, much like the ‘basket’ on the front legs of dragonflies. 

Walking around the Hill Fort there were plenty of Meadow Brown moving through the grass stems and scabious.

A Small Skipper.

A Small Skipper and a typical spring away.

The flowers on the side of the north slope of the fort.

Walking around the slopes to the main hil a Painted Lady settled on the ragwort showing off the beautiful pattern on the underside of the wings.

Walking down the steep slope, I mentioned to Ian this is where I had the Dark Green Fritillary on my last visit and low and behold one appeared again.

A female, a little duller on the upper side, it still retains the green wash on the under side.

Coming out of the wood the meadow was full of Chalk Hills and Marbled Whites, but the special butterfly ironically for me was a Common Blue.  I have hardly seen any this year.

A Small Skipper on Knapweed.

And a Chalk Hill Blue on scabious.

A walk around the bottom of the car park slope couldn't find any of the Silver-spotted Skippers, but it is still early for them here at this site.

Walking up the slope we finally managed to find a Marbled White that settled on a scabious flower head.

A close up.

It is one of my favourite butterflies and when I see them I can always remember when I first identified them while on holiday in Dorset back in the early nineties.

It was a very hot day and there was a good selection of butterflies, but again lacking the quantity.  Nice to see the Chalk Hill Blues on the wing.

29th July - RSPB Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex

We regularly go west, but rarely go east.  In fact some of the good birding spots in West Sussex are closer to me than those in Hampshire.  Today Ian and I decided to give the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks a go.  However the first problem we faced was the fact that the cafe was only open from Wednesday to Sunday and we hadn't brought any lunch with us.

From the car park there was a good number of red Admiral feeding on the agrimony behind the closed welcome hut.  Good to see some number of this impressive butterfly at last.

Walking past the closed visitor centre, the view out across the brooks and the South Downs beyond.

There was nothing from the two hides, West Mead and Whinpenny.  Plenty of butterflies along the paths though, mostly Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

And a slightly damaged Green-veined White.

The Wetlands Discovery Trail was open, a set of paths through small pools and reeds.  Here a Beautiful Demoiselle, a female.

A Blue-tailed Damselfly settled on a horsetail stem.

On one of the larger pools a brown Hawker flew up and down posing a challenge for photography, but I managed two acceptable images.

This Grey Squirrel was quite interested in me.

The view point in the Hangers over looks the North Brooks, in the bushes and bramble in front of it there were warblers showing, here a female or juvenile Blackcap.

The water on the brook was receding and a Green Sandpiper fed on the edge of the pool.

A Snipe also on the edge of the mud.

More warblers in front of us, a Whitethroat.

And a Chiffchaff.

The view out across the North Brooks.

We walked to the hide, which is lower down, but a little closer to the pool, but with the heat haze, good images were not possible.  Here a Green Sandpiper.

And a single Ruff.

Walking back to the visitor centre, we came across this male Banded Demoiselle.

A flick of the wings.

We managed to get some lunch, then decided to walk around the heathland.  First stop was the Black Pool, and some lovely views of the small Ruddy Darter.

A close up of the diagnostic features, the ruddy coloured eyes and mouth.

And from here the club like shape of the abdomen.

A new Damselfly for me was this Emerald Damselfly.

Here showing the blue eyes and green thorax.

There were plenty of Four-spot Chasers flying around the pool, some settling on the Bulrush stems.

A female Emperor Dragonfly was ovipositing around the pool, the abdomen pushed into the water to lay eggs.

Leaving the pool we walked around the Heathland trail.  We came across a family party of Spotted Flycatchers in the Scots Pine trees on the edge of the heath.

It was an interesting trip, we didn't get to see the White-tailed Eagles that have nested around here, but it was nice to spend some time in a different location and habitat.  We will be back in the winter when the eagles are apparently more evident.