Old Winchester Hill, one final time

This year, we've been butterflying at Old Winchester Hill earlier this month, and in July, and we also went there in August last year. When we went there a few weeks ago, we saw a record of butterfly species (19!), but among those, two species that we saw last year were standing out by their absence: adonis blue and silver-spotted skipper. Given the forecast of a warm sunny day with light winds, how about trying one final time and see those two species, which we haven't seen so far this year?

Although we drove there with sunshine, once we arrived at the Hill, there was thick wall-to-wall cloud cover, it was chilly, and quite windy .... In terms of butterflies, it was eerily quiet, just some meadow browns and a small heath active ...

Walking along the south-facing slope of the hill was so strange, not a single butterfly out .... 

But then the cloud cover broke, the sun came out, and temperature went up, and as if someone flicked a switch, the butterflies came out to play!

First the chalk hill blues ...

... then the silver-spotted skippers ...

... and then, finally, the adonis blues! The electric blue flash coming off their wings when the sun hits them at just the right angle is something I tried to capture in the photos, but I only succeeded partially.

In addition, many fresh-looking brimstones and many small tortoiseshells! So, mission accomplished, and here's the usual table (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

And finally ... we've visited Old Winchester Hill four times now, and combining the species lists of these four visits, we've seen a total of 25 species there! This may well have been our last full day of butterflying, but we'll definitely go back there next year again.

Shipton Bellinger

Last year, we tried to find brown hairstreaks at Steyning Downland, but unfortunately, we didn't see any. We decided to try our luck this year at Shipton Bellinger, which was mentioned as giving the best chance to see them in Hampshire.

Upon arrival, we slowly walked past the hedgerows, which had many holly blues flitting about ...

... but no brown hairstreaks. Quite possibly because the weather was rather cool, and the sky overcast. 

At some point we got talking to another butterfly enthusiast, also looking for brown hairstreaks. We walked the hedgerows together for a while, and then went our separate ways again. 

Until we saw him across an open field, waving his arms at us. Turned out he had spotted a brown hairstreak in a field full of nettles and thistles, and was kind enough to alert us. And the butterfly was still there, nectaring from the thistles, and coming back to them again and again!

We only ever saw that one brown hairstreak, so massive thank-you to that (anonymous) butterfly enthusiast for alerting us to a new species! Here's the table for the day (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Any golden-rings home?

We first saw a golden-ringed dragonfly about four years ago, when it landed on our kite bag, clearly at the end of its life. We didn't see any last year, but saw several this year, on Southampton Common as well as the university campus. We even had one flying through the open front door into the kitchen!

But we'd never seen a golden-ring actively 'at home' in the New Forest, where its closest natural breeding habitat is. So off to Crockford Bottom we went ...

The stream close to the car park not only gave us several beautiful demoiselles, ...

... it also had a few golden-ringed dragonflies patrolling the stream! No pics of them, as they never settled, but kept flying back and forth. 

Exploring the boggy heathland up to the ponds at Two Bridges Bottom gave us many keeled skimmers ...

... as well as a few small red damsels.

As we were exploring the many gorse bushes, a large dragonfly landed, sporting a bright blue triangle at the top of its abdomen. Couldn't take a picture as it flew off quickly again, but unmistakably a lesser emperor, a new species for us! 

So the golden-rings were definitely home, and it was very nice to finally see them in the New Forest, actively hunting. Today's tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Old Winchester Hill - third time lucky?

Last year when we went to Old Winchester Hill, the weather was very windy, with squally showers. Nevertheless, we saw 12 species of butterflies. Earlier this year, we went again, and the weather was, once again, not very favourable. But despite the heavy cloud cover and low temperature, we still saw 7 species. What would we see on a calm, warm, sunny day? Read on ...

As we walked around, we saw more and more species ...

... and it was really nice to see several small tortoiseshells! When I was a kid, this was such a common butterfly, and we'd only seen one so far this year (and a single one last year).

Of course, the highlight of the day consisted of the clouds of shimmering chalk hill blues. We must have seen hundreds and hundreds; they literally were everywhere!

At some point we passed the 12 species mark, set when we walked around Old Winchester Hill last year. And then we got to 17 species, equalling our best ever butterfly day (in Abbotts Wood). And then the species counter stopped .... 

Until, close to the car park, we saw a few small coppers; 18!

Among those 18 no adonis blues and no silver-spotted skippers. We got talking to one butterfly enthusiast, and asked him if he'd seen adonis blues today; the answer was 'no'. Another butterfly enthusiast asked us if we'd seen any silver-spotted skippers. We hadn't, and that made him feel better; it clearly wasn't just him .... He did then ask us if we'd seen the clouded yellows, which he said had been hanging around the bottom of the hill for a week or so. We hadn't been to that particular spot, so hadn't seen them. He then gave us direction as to where to find them .... Success: we saw a clouded yellow, from quite far away, but unmistakeable! 19!

Third time lucky indeed! Here it is, the longest table so far (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+)!

Wisley Gardens

Last week, we went butterflying at Hillier Gardens, and got our second-highest species count: 14. Now Wisley Gardens are a lot bigger than Hillier .... Would that mean more butterflies? One way to find out!

When we arrived, it was quite cool, and it took almost an hour before we saw our first butterfly in one of the flower borders: a meadow brown.

However, as the sun came out and the air warmed up, more and more butterflies showed themselves.

In terms of damselflies, we walked along the riverside walk for a bit, and that gave us several banded demoiselles.

At the various ponds dotted around the garden, we saw some more damselflies, and also several species of dragonflies.

Many common darters, a few emperors, a few brown hawkers, and one migrant hawker were all actively flying around.

So .... the moment of truth: which garden won the Battle of the Gardens? It turned out to be a draw: Hillier - Wisley: 14 - 14! So that means damseldragonflies would have to be the tie-breaker, and Wisley just pipped Hillier to the post: 9-8.

Here the full species lists (one  = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Dibden Bottom

Last year, in late September, we visited several of the ponds on Dibden Bottom and got a total of two species (common darter and southern hawker); it was clear the season had come to an end! So we decided to go around the same ponds again, and see what was active in early August.

In terms of butterflies, we saw a total of eight species, and nothing you wouldn't expect to see. What was notable, though, was the high number of silver-studded blues; we'd not seen this many together before! Most of them were looking pretty tattered; their season is clearly drawing to an end ...

At the first of the ponds, Rushbush pond, we saw masses of damselflies! Five species in total: common blue damsels, blue-tailed damsels, emerald damsels ...

..., large red-eyed damsels and small red-eyed damsels. The latter was a new species for us!

Was really good to see both species of red-eyed damselflies together, as it allowed us to get familiar with their distinguishing characteristics. Size was definitely one of those, but the 'blue wedge' towards the end of the abdomen in small red-eyes was pretty clear once you got your eyes on it.

Of course, an emperor patrolled the pond. And then I spotted an immature common darter floating on the surface .... It was clearly in trouble, so we fished it out of the pond and gave it another chance in life ...

On to Furzey pond!

Here, we were greeted by an emperor and many emerald damselflies, and the following picture can only be characterised by the term 'emerald group sex' ...

We crossed the road on our way to the 'hidden ponds'. At the first of these, we were greeted again by a patrolling emperor.

And then we saw what we really came to see here: black darters! New species #2 for the day! 

At the second of the 'hidden ponds', we saw a few small red damselflies.

Working our way back to Rushbush pond, we followed a stream for a while, and that got us a few beautiful demoiselles.

A really successful day, equalling our best ever damseldragonfly day in terms of numbers of species: 12. Here the tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):