Old Winchester Hill

In August last year, we went to Old Winchester Hill, and, despite the squally showers and strong winds, we saw a total of 12 butterfly species, including four new ones for us. We were keen to see what we would see a month earlier than last year, and, hopefully, with some better weather.

Although the forecast had promised only broken clouds for the day, we drove up with drizzly weather, and under a heavy cloud cover. Fortunately the drizzle stopped as we arrived, but the weather hardly looked good for lots of butterflies, and it wasn't exactly warm either ... We thought we'd be lucky to see half a dozen individual butterflies ...

But we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by lots of marbled whites! Maybe there was hope? Through the day, marbled whites turned out to be by far the commonest species; we didn't count them, but must have seen well over a hundred!

Lots of different plant species flowering, from grasses to orchids. We saw plenty of meadow browns and small heaths, and (first ones this year for us) several ringlets.

And then, a small orange butterfly whizzed through the grass. Crawling through the grass on our knees, we managed to get a good luck at the underside of the antenna tips: small skipper, new species for us!

Following that first one, we saw several more!

Walking over the hill fort, lots more plant species flowering, but the cloud cover got thicker and thicker, and so it got darker and darker. 

We did feel the day had been a success, as we'd seen way more than we expected, and even got a new species. Not knowing at that point, we would be given an extra present .... A large orange butterfly, going from flower to flower: dark green fritillary!

And then a few more. New species for Irma, but technically not for me. According to old note books, I saw them in Poland in 1991, but can't remember seeing them at all. So, to all intents and purposes, still a new species for me.

And then the rain came down ...

We didn't see chalkhill blues or adonis blues (or any blues whatsoever); just a bit too early for the chalkhills and definitely too early for the second generation adonis. So we will be back in about a month's time, and, after two visits under less-than-perfect weather conditions, visit Old Winchester Hill on a really nice warm sunny day.

Today's table (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):