26th July - Shipton Belinger, Hampshire

 Butterfly emergence has been early this year, the warm and dry weather bring species out up to three weeks ahead of the average.  This was very much the case with Brown Hairstreaks, with good numbers reported from the stronghold in the village of Shipton Belinger.  With this in mind I had arranged to meet Ian at the village hall car park around 9.00am.

When planning this the weather forecast looked good, but the day turned out to be a little different.  We both passed through showers on the way and it was ominously overcast when we walked up the bridleway with no butterflies at all on the wing.

The first winged insect we saw was this Dingy Footman roosting on the flower head of a Field Scabious, the moth not even known as a day flying species.

We reached the field that has the main trees and bushes at the west side and a juvenile Kestrel was hunting by running through the grassland.  At this age they haven't perfected the hovering technique and they rely on any method to get food.

There was Wild Parsnip in flower alongside the hedge row, but no where near the density that was there last year.  The flower heads were covered in Ladybirds, oith Harlequin and Seven Spot Ladybirds.  These Seven Spot Ladybirds.

As well as the wild Parsnip there were good numbers of Wooly Thistles in flower.  Looking closely at the flower heads before the petals emerged I found the spiral pattern quite mesmerising.

Predictably in the overcast conditions the first butterfly to be seen was the Meadow Brown.  The sky brightened a little and it became a little warmer.  We  saw at least two Brown Hairstreak, high up above the trees, chased after them but they never came down to settle on the flowers.

A nice find was the Wall Brown.  Again this is a strong hold for this impressive butterfly, with colonies having spread from nearby Salisbury Plain.  Apparently the Wall is sensitive to air pollution and keeps well away from main roads.

First the closed wing shot

But then it opened up to take in the radiation.

You do the same thing here every year, walk up and down the hedgerow looking for a small orange butterfly.  Frustratingly we saw another couple, but again they never settled, the nearest being as they flew out over the grass.

It was a case of photograph what else you could find.  This an Ermine moth.

A Meadow Brown.

Then joined by a Gatekeeper.

And a Gatekeeper sunning on a Wooly Thistle flower head.

The rain came and we had to shelter.  After it passed we walked back to the cars with many Wall along the tracks.  The weather looked like it as clearing so we walked back, taking the path on the east side of the field.  This Wall presented itself nicely on a dead branch.

The only Common Blue found sat on a stem of grass, not moving.

We walked the main tree line once again, but there wasn't any sign of the hairstreaks, we had to make do with this smart Speckled Wood.

And a showy Small Heath.

No Brown Hairstreak photographs but we did see some.  Other than that not one of the most successful days.