15th August - Old Winchester Hill, Hampshire

The last two days have been ones of intense heat, today was much fresher but temperatures remained above what is normally expected in August.  The views from here will always take my breath away and today was no exception, with some unique cloud formation enghanced in black and white.

Knowing it would still be sunny and warm I opted to go searching for butterflies on Old Winchester Hill, but as I walked the top path there was a collection of warblers in the bushes and amongst the grass and plant stems. 

There were Chiffchaffs.

And a few Willow Warblers.

While a family of Long-tailed Tits in the Yew tree.

First butterfly was a Small Heath.

I walked up to the fort and looking south towards the Isle of Wight the clouds were even more impressive.

The butterfly of the day has to be the Clouded Yellow, they seemed to be everywhere and they were stopping to nectar.  In total I counted thirty five, but in truth there may have been many more, I have not seen so many in one location ever before.

Here those elusive open wing shots showing the black trim on the fore wing.

There was a very pale form, that at first I thought was a Large White, but the spot on the underwing identified it a  clouded Yellow, but what form?  Some 10% to 15% of females are of a pale form helice, the colour ranging from a soft lemon yellow to white.  The underside though is the same in the normal and helice forms.

My challenge for the day was to try and catch one in flight.  I had a lot of attempts but the only successful one was the first attempt I took.

I walked down the south slope and there were plenty of second brood Adonis Blue.

The electric Blue colour of this butterfly is so intense in the second brood.

The numbers of Chalkhill Blues was down on my previous visit, but still in good numbers, some were worn and looking tatty but his one wasn't too bad.

A surprise was this immaculate Mint Moth.

But the butterfly I was looking for down the south slope was the Silver-spotted Skipper and it didn't take long to find them, so different from my search on Stockbridge Down.  Once you get your eye in on their flight activity they are simple to find

This one looks to have some damage to the wing.

Normally they are found on the south slope, more down at the bottom out of the cooling breeze.  This butterfly loves the warm weather and can be seen frequently sunning on the flower heads.  It was a surprise then that this one was on the slope of the hill fort moat.

Then a very nice close up of this beautiful little skipper.

After having my time with the Kestrels, I walked down the hill.  A Red Admiral was sitting on the chalk path casting a nice shadow.

The slope leading down to the Woodpecker Copse had many Clouded Yellows at the bottom, this one back lit by the sun as it nectared on the flowers.

The path coming out of the copse, the chalk leading to the blue sky.

And the arid dry slopes and fields around the Hill fort.

Not on the hill but my drive home is a short one for once and as I turned off the A32 I noticed a pair of Swallows on the wire outside the cottage close to the junction.  I stopped and the Swallow allowed to take a few photos before flying off.

A great morning up on the hill, butterflies and kestrels performing at their best.