Hampshire Butterflies

For the past fortnight I’ve mainly been concentrating on Dragonflies with mixed results. The dry season has played havoc with our heathland ponds and even some New Forest streams are dry. It therefore seems ironic that butterflies seem to be the hardier species during our dull summers and a brief glimpse of sun amongst the gloom can bring out wonderful displays of colourful activities.

Here are a few butterfly highlights from the past fortnight:-

Silver-studded Blue

Purple Hairstreak

Holly Blue

Holly Blue

Small White

Common Blue

Purple Hairstreak

Common Blues

Common Blues

Common Blues

Common Blue

Large Skipper

Meadow Brown

Meadow Browns

Gatekeepers in particular are in great numbers almost everywhere I go, and on the forest heaths Graylings are plentiful along with a few tired and tatty Silver-studded Blues. In fact the only species I haven’t seen this year are Clouded Yellows. Hopefully I’ll get a few sightings before season’s end.

This year I gave myself the task of finding and photographing all those species of Hampshire butterfly which I failed to find and photograph last year. A persistent attitude along with some exceptional luck helped me to reach my goal.

Purple Hairstreak

Apart from the elusive Purple Emperor, the species I thought would be the most challenging are the Hairstreaks due to their dependence on the tree canopy. Only the White-letter proved to be most elusive, with sightings on only three days and only a couple of photo opportunities.

Brown Hairstreak

What I’ve really enjoyed – apart from the challenge of finding and photographing them – is getting to know their habitats, feeder plants and seasonality. Most are only around for a short period once a year, while others like the Wall, Small Blue and Brown Argus are enjoying second broods right now.

Brown Hairstreak

Just because I’ve completed my species list for this year doesn’t mean I’m going to get complacent and ignore those opportunities which present themselves. like this Peacock who refused to move off the path to allow my passage. I therefore had to give him a helping hand.

Peacock

The Silver-spotted Skipper is one of our rarer skippers and is considered local even at it’s noted Hampshire sites. As it was last on my list I visited one of these sites on Sunday for a reccie and followed it up Monday once I’d located their playground.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper

They are notoriously fast flyer’s and can be difficult subjects to photograph so I sat back and observed their behaviour before attempting a shot. Although fast, they were relatively easy to follow and careful stalking allowed me to get in close. However my best opportunity proved to be a courting pair.

Courting Pair of Silver-spotted Skippers

Courting Pair of Silver-spotted Skippers

Once I’d acheived my shots I left them in peace to pursue the wealth of other species on the wing, including Brown Argus, Chalkhill Blue, Large Skippers, Common Blues and even a few faded and tatty Dark Green Fritillaries.

The one negative about this site, and a few others I’ve visited lately, are the amount of mite-infected individuals. Not pleasant to see and I wonder if they do cause more damage than documented. A few infected individuals did seem to be suffering.

On Tuesday I went out early to witness the second brood of Wall Browns at Pennington. Arriving at 9.00am seemed to be the ideal time as within minutes I witnessed at least a dozen patrolling the path.

Wall Brown

Adrian Hoskings has noted they are one of the most difficult species to photograph – even to go so far as to suggest they may hear the mirror flip up on DSLR’s. I’m more inclined to believe they can detect the infra-red sensor just before the shutter release. They certainly do prove a challenge, but my frustration was more with them preferring to perch on the ground rather than a more pleasing background of foliage.

Wall Brown

There were a couple of opportunities when they did perch to nectar, and I even witnessed a breeding pair among the grass, but on both occasions I couldn’t reach them to get a shot as they were behind the barbed-wire fence and too distant for my macro lens to cope.

Wall Brown

After an hour of activity things became very quiet and sightings were very scarce, even though the sun appeared for more than a few minutes at a time. However there were other opportunities to be had including a  Meadow Brown perched with open wings.

Meadow Brown

Gatekeepers and Common Blues were plentiful among the Flea bane, a plant which always brings out the butterflies.

Gatekeeper

Common Blue

Before I left I had a final sighting of a Wall Brown, but this individual decided to perch with wings closed.

Wall Brown

My next excursion was Thursday where my main objective was dragonflies, but because of the dry weather recently these were few and far between. There was however some butterfly interest including a welcome sighting of some Holly Blues feeding on flea bane.

Holly Blue

I was even lucky enough to get an open-winged shot of a Holly Blue

Holly Blue

and another Meadow Brown

Meadow Brown

If only Graylings were as obliging…

Grayling

Many apologies for the lack of posting recently. I’m finding it difficult to find the time for internet activity with so many hours spent in the field and sorting through the hundreds of images I’ve acquired as well as indulging in my other passion, dragonflies.

However the past few weeks has mainly been all about the butterflies with several days spent in new locations and searching out those elusive species. One of those locations which required a return visit was Alice Holt, where I was fortunate to witness a rare spectacle of over a dozen Purple Hairstreaks mineralising on the gravel path.

Purple Hairstreak

They were there for the full two hours of my visit and provided a challenge to photograph with them being very active and constantly changing position. On the same visit I also witnessed several Silver-washed Fritillaries with many in cop.

Mating Silver-washed Fritillaries

Another location I’ve spent far too many hours at is Peartree Common in Southampton, site of supposedly the largest population of White-letter Hairstreaks in the county. I visited every day without a sighting and had to console myself with other more common species, although the presence of Small Coppers was a delight to witness.

Small Copper

The lack of White-letters at Peartree forced me to search in other locations, and once again Bentley Wood came to the rescue. After only an hour of waiting, a pair descended from the Elms to feed on the bramble blossom.

White-letter Hairstreak

To give an idea of how elusive this species is to encounter, I revisited two days later and had to wait a full 4 hours before getting a sighting! However the day was also blessed with the sighting of a single male Purple Emperor flying around the oaks at the car park. Far too distant to attempt a photo though.

Last weekend saw the ‘Butterfly and Buddleja’ event at Longstock Park, Near Stockbridge which proved a fine and informative day out with lots of activity around the buddleia plants including a rare sighting of Hummingbird Hawk-moths.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth

The sighting of this rare migrant proved to be the highlight of the day for many visitors and stole the limelight from all the regular species. The event also provided a number of stalls which proved an invaluable source of knowledge and even a few rare photo opportunities.

Swallowtail Caterpillar

After our visit we called in to Stockbridge Down where Silver-spotted Skippers had been seen. We managed to sight three in total and my partner Sue even managed a photo, but unfortunately I wasn’t so lucky! However the profusion of Chalkhill Blues provided a great summer spectacle

Chalkhill Blue

Mating Chalkhill Blues

Small Coppers were also in abundance and there were also several Adonis Blues which as far as I know have not been previously documented at this site. Good news indeed as Hampshire only has a few scattered colonies.

Small Copper

On Monday I spent the day in the New Forest with Paul Brock, an authority on Hampshire and New Forest insects. Among the wealth of other six-legged creatures were several Dark Green Fritillaries, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Graylings, Commas, Ringlets, Gatekeepers and Silver-studded Blues

Silver-studded Blue

The New Forest is a haven for the latter and this year I’ve seen very good colonies on most heaths, some of which I’ve never actually witnessed them previously

On Wednesday I took a trip to Dorset after being informed of Brown Hairstreak sightings. IU had already paid a visit to Shipton Bellinger without success, but may have been a little early. In fact most people I spoke to Wednesday believed it was still too early for sightings, but barely an hour in provided my first ever sighting of a wonderfully fresh and vibrant individual.

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Four more were sighted that day along with several Purple Hairstreaks feeding on the bramble.

Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

I shall be returning to this site over the next week to hopefully witness more wonders and will also be searching intently for the Silver-spotted Skipper. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Firstly can I apologise for the site being down yesterday. This was due to a network error and unfortunately was beyond my control. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time as I had provided the site address to a few people at Bentley Wood interested in seeing the photos of the elusive Purple Emperor I was lucky to take yesterday.

So here goes…

I had been walking around Bentley Wood vainly hoping I would catch a glimpse and spent a long time at the ponds while at least 20 other people were also searching out on the rides and in the car park. Finally I decided to continue the walk, taking my favourite ride back avoiding the gravel path.

Male Purple Emperor Feeding

Towards the end I saw a young lady with a dog waving frantically, so I hurried towards her to find this beauty which had been feeding for a good 10 minutes in her company. She asked me to keep watch while she fetched some others from the car park and I had a few minutes to rattle off some shots, even having time to switch to the macro lens.

As the others arrived, I sat poised hoping he would open his wings and for just a second he obliged while I shot continuous hoping to freeze at the moment the sun reflected purple off his wings. I couldn’t, and didn’t, ask for more….

Male Purple Emperor

So thank you very much Lesley for waving and sharing this delightful encounter.

Although widely distributed in Central Europe, the Large Blue became extinct here in 1979 through habitat destruction and over-zealous collection by our Victorian forebears.

Large Blue

Thankfully experiments into re-introduction using Swedish stock was carried out in the 1980’s with varying success and now we have a few thriving colonies at selected sites throughout Devon and Somerset.

Large Blue

Most of these colonies remain relatively small and the majority are either on private land or reserves where permits are necessary to visit. There is however on public site where these beauties can be seen, Collard Hill in Somerset, and it is here where several pilgrimages during their season are taken out by enthusiasts from all over Britain.

Large Blue

My own visit was made yesterday and myself and a large contingent from the Lincolnshire butterfly group were greeted by several individuals making the most of the high temperatures and sunny skies. Their frantic activity didn’t allow many photo opportunities, but occasionally an individual would perch upon the thyme just long enough to allow a shot or two.

Large Blue

My apologies for the delay in updates. I do have an excuse – that being the major increase in activity of my other insect passion,Dragonflies.

June has seen continued seasonal species activity the emergence of a heathland favourite of mine, the diminutive Silver-studded Blue.

Silver-studded Blue

There have also been some beautiful fresh Small Tortoiseshells brightening up our meadows

Small Tortoiseshell

and the first of the larger Fritillaries, the Silver-washed. Unfortunately the only individuals I have been lucky to see this week have been very active and didn’t exactly provide the best of photo opportunities.

Silver-washed Fritillary

Large Skippers are very abundant this year, Bentley Wood in particular being swamped with them.

Large Skipper

Also showing great populations are the flighty Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns

Marbled White

Meadow Brown

Also filling our meadows, heaths and hillsides with frantic activity are the Small Heaths

Small Heath

Red Admirals always surprise me with their appearance, especially when they take the time to perch

Red Admiral

Another welcome vanessid sighting is the Painted Lady – a species which made the headlines last year with tens of thousands migrating to our shores. Sightings this year however have been few and far between.

Painted Lady

July is looking very positive with the emergence of several late summer species and promises to be a busy month. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing the White Admiral, the smaller Skippers, those elusive Hairstreaks and of course the prize, the Purple Emperor.

Hi and welcome to the new blog feature for Hampshire Butterflies. Here you will find the latest sightings and photographs of butterflies in Hampshire and The New Forest.

Green Hairstreak

So far the season has started well with a rather cool May following a reasonable April. My main objective for this year was to locate and photograph those species I missed last year while obtaining better photographic records of those species already documented.

Peacock

My first sighting this year was of a lone Painted Lady along the woodland rides of Bolderwood back in March. A welcome and unusual sight. Things really began to get underway during April with Peacocks, Commas and Small Tortoiseshells taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather.

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell

On the 15th my partner and I took a trip to Butser Hill in the hope of finding the first species on my wish list, the Grizzled Skipper.

Grizzled Skipper

On the 17th I encountered my first Speckled Wood of the season

Speckled Wood

While the 19th brought my first Small White

Small White

Towards the end of April things really started picking up with a visit to Magdalen Down where we encountered plenty of Grizzled Skippers, a few Green Hairstreaks and my first Small Copper of the year

Small Copper

By now the season was really kicking off with all the usual suspects including Brimstones, Orange Tips, Green-veined Whites and the odd Red Admiral always flying out of reach of the camera.

Brimstone

Orange Tip

Green-veined White

On the 24th we visited another hot spot, Noar Hill, to find another couple from my wish list – the Duke Of Burgundy and Dingy Skipper.

Duke Of Burgundy

Dingy Skipper

On the 29th it was off to the New Forest to track down the Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

May provided another couple of encounters with Marsh Fritillary and Glanville Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary

Glanville Fritillary

Common Blues have also made a healthy appearance, along with Small Blues and Brown Argus

Common Blues

Small Blue

Brown Argus

Finally to bring things up to date on the 4th June I visited Bentley Wood in search of the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and as well as obtaining another species from this years’ wish list, was surprised to also find the first Large Skippers of the year.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries

Large Skipper