19th July - Old Winchester Hill, Hampshire

Another beautiful day, with temperatures forecast to tip towards thirty degrees and encouraged by the number of butterflies about at Titchfield the previous day, I decided to visit Old Winchester Hill.  The view from the top path as I left the car park was as spectacular as ever.

Marbled Whites weaved there way through the tall grasses but even though they looked like they were going to stop they never did.  More accommodating were the two skipper species, this a Large Skipper.

And a Small Skipper on a grass stem.

Whilst there were butterflies about it was no where near the numbers that I witnessed this time last year, then the bramble was covered in Red Admirals and skippers and Marbled Whites were all over the grass.  I did manage to see a single Silver-washed Fritillary and a single Red Admiral.

I turned to walk down the path to the circular path that follows the slope of the hill.

Through the gate and heading towards the Hill Fort there were more Marbled Whites and one finally stopped.  The red dot is a mite that is commonly found on this butterfly species, it does the Marbled White no harm.

On reaching the Hill Fort I walked around to the south slope and walked to the bottom.

I had thought there may be some early Chalkhill Blues about, but once again there was very few butterflies let alone the blues.  I returned to the fort and followed the moat around.  A female Dark-green Fritillary buzzed past me and looked like it would stop, but of course it didn't.  This male Brimstone, though, did stop.

Another surprise, this was the only Small Heath I saw on the visit.

On the north slope I picked out this dark triangle.  After this shot it flew off and I could see it was a Tortoiseshell, and when it dueled with a Meadow Brown it looked quite big, but unfortunately it was a Small Tortoiseshell.  Still the Smalls are almost as rare as the Larger Tortoiseshells this year.

Finally I managed to get a Marble White settled on a thistle.

From the triangulation point I took this 30 degree view, a stunningly hot day was now the case.

Back on the circular path, another Marbled White.

The steep slope down to the Woodpecker Wood was covered in wild flowers, Scabious and many yellow flowers.

Almost at the bottom of the slope I noticed to my right an orange butterfly flew into a bush.  I made my way over to the bush and found this Dark-green Fritillary.  It was a female and i think it was egg laying out of sight.

It showed a little better as it moved around the leaves.

In the wood there were several Speckled Woods but they were busy.  This Brimstone was nectaring on the bramble.

And a nice Meadow Brown.

Coming out of the wood, more Marbled White on either side of the path.

Nothing on the slopes as I headed back up the hill.  I stopped at the dead tree and composed this shot, I like to call it "One Dead Tree Hill".

I think it looks even more impressive in black and white.

There was a good species count with 15 seen in the morning visit, however the quantity of butterflies about has to be of concern, what will this mean for the coming years?  I am told this weather this year is similar to that of 2012, things recover and I can only hope it does after this year.