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+):

Slufters Pond

Even though the forecast was far from great for butterdamseldragons, we decided to try our luck at Slufters Pond in the New Forest. Slufters Pond actually consists of two ponds, a smaller one to the north ...

... and a larger one to the south, which also has an island in its centre.

The weather indeed did what it was forecast to do: thick clouds and regular rain or drizzle. Butterfly activity was pretty low, though we did see several graylings and a few silver-studded blues. 

In terms of odos, several common blue damsels, a few common darters and a few keeled skimmers. Plus several emerald damselflies, which we only saw for the first time a few days ago. Really nice to see several more today!

Both ponds had patrolling emperors as well as ovipositing empresses. Must say I'm really pleased with this picture!

Not a lot of activity due to the crappy weather, but here the usual tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Chobham Common

When we moved to Britain 27 years ago, we lived within walking distance of Chobham Common, a large heathland. Recently, several people on the UK Butterflies Facebook group and the British Dragonflies and Damselflies Facebook group posted pictures of butterflies and dragonflies they'd seen there. And that made us think "why not go there again, see what butterdamseldragons we can see, while taking a trip down memory lane?"

Although we had plenty of sunny spells, it was quite windy, and that kept insects down at first. We did see a single migrant hawker hawking around, but, arriving at the first of several ponds and pools, we saw quite some odo activity.

Common darters, keeled skimmers, a broad-bodied chaser, a large red damsel and a tandem of small red damsels!

At other ponds, we could add black-tailed skimmers, common blue damsels, and several emperors. Nine dragonfly or damselfly species in total.

In terms of butterflies, the second-commonest species (after gatekeepers) were graylings, and not all of them had perfected their disappearance trick. 

Nine butterfly species in total, including several large skippers.

Apart from the butterflies and damseldragonflies we saw, it really was nice to be back to where we used to walk so often 25 or so years ago ...

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