Broughton Down

When we went butterflying at Old Winchester Hill a week and a bit ago, we saw a record number of species (21!), but not some of the Hill's specialities: adonis blue and silver-spotted skipper. Now we have seen (1st generation) adonis blues this year at Martin Down. but no silver-spotted skippers ...

Rather than return to Old Winchester Hill, as we have done in previous years, we decided to explore a new (for us) site, which was also said to have populations of adonis blues and silver-spotted skippers: Broughton Down. 

By far the commonest species was brown argus. We saw anything between very tatty individuals to very fresh-looking ones.

Lots of common blues, several chalk hill blues, but not a single adonis blue, though ...

When we sat down for lunch, halfway up a hill: a silver-spotted skipper!! Very uncharacteristically, it posed for photos for something like ten minutes before it flew off. 

Despite the mostly sunny weather and the many brown argus, common blue and a few other species, it did feel a bit like the beginning of the end of the butterfly season (just a few gatekeepers, for instance). So here's possibly the final butterfly table for the 2023 season (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):