8th August - Long-tailed Blue - Portsdown Hill, Hampshire

Back in October 2023, there was a small colony of Long-tailed Blue butterflies on Portsdown Hill, over the last three years the site has been checked but they were not found.  This week though at the same time the report of the Queen of Spain came out a Long-tailed Blue was found in the very same spot.

After the success with the fritillary we decided to head south to get another rare migrant of the UK.  After an hours drive we arrived at the car park, had lunch ten crossed the road to the spot with the bench.  The sun was in and out with some cloud about and as we arrived it went in and a butterfly buzzed around and then settled once the sun was behind the clouds.  A close look and there was the Long-tailed Blue.

The Long-tailed Blue is an extremely rare migrant to the British Isles.  The most noticeable influx occurred in 2013 when Long-tailed Blue were seen at 9 sites in Devon, Hampshire, Sussex, Kent and Suffolk. Mating pairs, eggs and larvae were also found, confirming that the species had successfully bred and, on 8th September 2013, the first of the offspring emerged in Wiltshire and Kent. Sightings from other counties followed, with sightings continuing into October.

The adult butterfly has a jerky and rapid flight that is very similar to a hairstreak, but flies closer to the ground. It is also a strong flyer, borne out by its ability to migrate over large expanses of land and water. This butterfly possesses a pair of "tails" that give this species its name, together with an eye spot where the tails meet the wings. These act to divert a predator, such as a bird, away from the essential body parts. When at rest, the butterfly will rotate the hindwings which causes the tails to move, diverting predators from the more-important parts of the body.

This was a female, with the brown upper wing, the males being a graduated blue.

On the continent, this butterfly is considered a pest of pea crops, one of the larval foodplants, where it can cause considerable damage. This butterfly is continuously-brooded on the continent but again like the Queen of Spain is unable to survive our winters, who knows.

The white stripe on the hindwing looks a little faded which suggests these are migrants.  Who knows what has attracted them to the exact same spot as last time three years ago.  The chances are that now these will breed and that there will be a second brood in October.

They can quite feisty and will chase off butterflies much larger than themselves.

When the sun was out at least two were flying around the area, but as soon as it went behind the clouds they settles on the grass stems.

Alo in the area were a Small White.

And of course a Painted Lady.

We decided to go back and try and find the Brown Hairstreak, but once again the search was fruitless.  Quite bizarre we had seen two extremely rare butterflies in the UK today but could not get to see an endemic!

However there was always the Swallows once again flying around the cropped grass.

And a confiding Holly Blue where the Brown Hairstreak should have been.

Some lovely cloud formations looking south from the bottom of the slope, again looking impressive in black and white.

I doubt there are many days when you get to see two rare migrant butterflies in the United Kingdom, so it was special.  Who knows maybe as our climate changes we will see more of these exotic butterflies reaching our shores

16th July - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Still hot and officially a heatwave, but it felt fresher over the last few days and a lot more amenable to do things.  After the disappointment of last night once again I decided to spend some time back at the Haven.  As I arrived a message came in that there was a Ruff on the north scrape, I was yet to see one this year so I was pleased I had opted to come here.

I checked in at the cabin and then walked around the sea wall in a fresh breeze.  The tide was out and there were terns fishing offshore.  In the bay from the roadside there was a Common Sandpiper feeding on the exposed mud.

As I walked into the reserve all the birds on the south scrape appeared to go up.  Overhead were several Sandwich Terns.  From below they look a little like the Fairy Tern with the black eyes

For once I avoided the Meon Shore hide and made my way around to the Pumfrett Hide where there would be a better view of the north scrape.  I stopped at Darter's Dip briefly to get a close up of this Common Darter.

The Ruff was still present, but feeding i the far north eastern corner, still I was able to get a record shot.

The light from this hide in the early morning is poor and with the size of the reeds a lot of the scrape is not visible.  On the south scrape there were three Dunlin, all in breeding plumage on the exposed spit.

A Common Tern fishing over the south scrape.

The talk in the hide turned to butterflies and the possibility of finding hairstreaks along the Meon Road.  So a couple of us walked around to see if we could find some.  White Letter have been seen, but it might be a little late, Purple are more than likely there while the big hope was to find Brown Hairstreak.

You walk the canal path then across the road at the bends to a patch of Wych Elm and Oak.  There were a few butterflies about, but not what we were hoping for.  We walked through the line of trees to the footpath alongside the field of wheat.

There were more butterflies along the path and we soon found a Hairstreak, but not the ones hoped for.  A pair of Purple Hairstreak were mating on the leaves of a holly bush.

On the edge of the wheat field there was a Painted Lady.

And a male Common Blue.

While on the bushes and holly a lovely Holly Blue.

Only one hairstreak species out of the three hoped for but it was a pleasant walk and nice to see the Purple Hairstreak.

Back at the reserve I went into the Meon Shore hide where the conditions looked a lot different, water had been diverted on to the scrape.

The terns were very busy moving back and forth from the sea with fish.  It was nice to be able to catch up with a few Sandwich Terns.

The Common Terns were also busy with fish.

The familiar call of a Common Sandpiper heralded the arrival of one from the far side of the scrape, flying on to the island in front of the hide.

It then made its way around the small island picking off the insects that were on the surface of the water.

A lovely reflection.

Most of the waders were on the north end of the scrape with quite a few Black-tailed Godwits and Avocet roosting in the sunshine.  One notable record was that of a tufted Duck with three ducklings, what was a surprise was the female hauling up on a island and letting the little ones swim around on their own.

I wanted to get back to the north scrape in the hope that the Ruff was showing a little better.  I had forgotten to photograph the scrape first thing, but now the light was better.  Again a lot more water and quality mud.

The Avocet were feeding in the shallow water which provided some very nice reflections.

Standing quite regally.

And some stretching.

I dismissed a small wader close to the hide as a Common Sandpiper, then it flew off and revealed the white rump of a Green Sandpiper.  Of course it flew around the left hand side and out of sight into the north west corner.

A Snipe on the edge of the south scrape was a nice find, they must be starting to return.

Then some luck the Ruff made its way across the scrape and into the east corner and then came back across the mud quite close.

Clearly in moult but showing the feathers of a male bird.

On my way back I stopped off in the Meon Shore hide once again and it proved to be a very good decision.  On the island 'C' which is at the back of the scrape there was a Roseate Tern sat alongside a Common.  A very welcome year tick.

It was very much a day of surprises in which I picked up two year ticks and some interesting discussion around the butterflies of Hampshire.  The good news is that the scrapes have been replenished and are looking a lot more conducive to the autumn wader passage which is already under way.

4th July - Martin Down, Hampshire - Part Two

So faced with what to do we opted to keep going and pretty much circum navigate the reserve.  This entailed walking down to the car park at the north end of the reserve just off the A354.  We walked through the grassland of the rifle ranges with more Dark-green Fritillaries buzzing about.  As we approached the car park there was a Holly Blue around the gate and the surrounding bramble.

We crossed the road and made our way up the footpath and then turned right into another wonderful grass field, full of knapweed and thistles.  It was though still quite overcast.

I realised it would be good to try and photograph every species of butterfly seen, so stopped for this open winged Gatekeeper.

While this Meadow Brown appears to have fallen a sleep in its food.

The Small Coppers kept coming and were performing brilliantly on the flower heads, both on the wooded side of the path and amongst the grasses.

Butterflies we hadn't encountered on the walk along the dyke started to appear,Large Whites frustratingly at the back of the bramble and unreachable, but the Small Whites were a little bit easier.

At last a settled if rather worn Small Skipper.

And completing the set of currently available skippers a Large Skipper.

Ian was keen to find Purple Hairstreak and was shaking the lower branches of the oak trees.  He didn't initially flush any hairstreaks, but did disturb this Scarlet Tiger Moth.

Peacocks were everywhere, we managed to count 54, but there was probably more that we just didn't see, they seemed to be everywhere.

The bramble was turning up new butterflies this one of five Comma seen.

This Small Copper sat nicely on a grass seed head with the perfect background.  We counted 23 Small Copper all around the reserve.

Finally Ian's shaking of the oak tree branches paid off and we found this Purple Hairstreak at eye level on the oak leaves.

We saw three individuals but no doubt there were plenty more amongst the many oaks along the path.

By now the sun had broken through the clouds and it was warming up, this bringing many more butterflies about.

The path then would turn south and continue around the reserve, but there was a gate where the old Roman road headed east.  Immediately on the other side of the gate there were tall thistles and ragwort and these were attracting many butterflies so we had to go in and see juts what was about.

First up was another lovely Dark-green Fritillary, this time conveniently nectaring on the thistles and showing the lovely green wash on the underside that gives the butterfly its name.

Only the second Painted Lady of the day was nectaring on the Ragwort.

And one of eight Red Admiral, just resting.

Marbled Whites had an incredible day, we counted 111, but there must have been many more.  At one point we walked through thegrasses and there were clouds of the Marbled White and Meadow Brown coming up in front of us, a wonderful sight.

This rather worn Marbled White nectaring on a thistle flower with the perfect background.

But as we watched the butterflies we were treated to a display by a moth, a Hummingbird Hawkmoth to be precise.  It hung around the thistles and allowed us to play with shutter speeds as it nectared like it's namesake the hummingbird around us.

Nectaring amongst the thistle flowers even at one six thousand of a second shutter speed the wings were difficult to freeze.

Love the background on this one.

These are the closest I will get to photographing one of my favourite birds in this country.

We came back on to the reserve elated by the hawkmoth encounter and then made our way through the grass to the road.  On the way we flushed so many butterflies it was wonderful to see them on what was now a beautiful day.

We had to search for the gate on the other side of the road and on finding it we had to scramble through the bramble and branches.  Coming out the other side we were treated to some other wonderful views that were transformed by shooting them in black and white.  Big sky country, endless grass and lovely white wispy clouds.

And another view in colour.

This was my attempt to capture the wonderful array of wild flowers amongst the grass.  Unfortunately it doesn't do it justice.

The round walk was a distance of ten kilometres or six miles in old money.  It was a wonderful day and as we got back to the cars a Quail was still calling from the same field.

A total of twenty four butterfly species seen and these are the counts, from a wonderful day.