18th June - Magdalen Hill, Hampshire

Leaving Romsey the sun started to appear and the temperature was rising.  It was on my way home so I decided to try Magdalen Hill Hill in the hope that there were some butterflies about and specifically the Marbled White.

The walk up the hill past the cemetery is always a difficult one, the incline a little steeper than it looks.  Rather than go into the field I decided to walk along the top path and immediately found this quite smart Comma settled on a nettle leaf.

There was a very heady scent in the air and there were quite a few Meadow Brown about and they would battle with this tatty looking Red Admiral.

Then in the grass alongside the path my first Marbled White of the year.

My favourite butterfly of this part of the season.

In amongst the grass a Pyramidal Orchid.

Also in the grass a very worn and tatty Common Blue.

And not as bad as the Blue but still in a poor condition a Painted Lady.

I walked into the main field and where back in the spring this was covered in yellow Cowslips, now it was pink and white.

The reason for the pink colours is the huge concentration of Sainfoin, a member of the legume family.  The plant is known for it's 'nitrogen fixing', the roots penetrating to great depths, it is also beneficial to grazing animals.  They like alkaline soils and are extremely tolerant of drought.

I walked along the path with Marbled Whites passing me on both sides.  I also disturbed this Painted Lady which then settled on the path.  This one in much better condition.

From the path to the Sainfoin.

Several Small Heath amongst the grass.

Skylarks were singing above me and this one was on the path before scurrying into the grass.

I managed to catch this one as it came up out of the grass.

I walked through the flowers and tried to block out the sound of the traffic on the M3 and the road into Winchester.  IF I could I would be left with the calm of the song of the Skylarks and the buzzing of hundreds of bees.

Walking through the chalk pit some lovely spikes of Viper's Bugloss.

I walked back through the field to the east of the main reserve and there were many butterflies about.  A Small Skipper evaded me, while this Common Blue female looked like it was laying eggs in the grass.

BUt I had come in hope of seeing Marbled Whites and there were plenty here, busy nectaring on the Knapweed and Field Scabious.

Field scabious the attraction here.

But the main attraction is the Knapweed, the food plant of the Marbled White.  It erestingly it is all males at this stage, the females being browner rather than black.

Away to south there were some very dark clouds and the sun had gone but it was still very warm and humid.  I returned to the car and headed home.