Duke Site Part 3
Or is that four? Actually it might be 5 – I’ve lost count. Anyway I managed to persuade my wife that it would be a good idea to get out for a couple of hours in between loading the loft with all our goods and chattels and ripping off skirting boards upstairs in preparation for yet more Lime Plastering. Actually I think I was a little too persuasive and so ended up accompanied by both girls.
I did the usual ‘ask K’ trick and she seemed positive for Duke and Adonis but unsure about Small blues. It was the usual race against the weather as well with the threat of cloud miring my plans but when we arrived the breeze was minimal and the sun beat down so we quickly made our way across to the hotspot/main track to make the most of the sun. On the way we notched up Small Heaths, Brown Argus and Common Blues and once on the track proper there was also a Small Copper and a couple a piece of Grizzlie and Dingy. A female Brimstone landed to nectar right in front of us before being sent packing by a belligerent Brown Argus. I’ve since learnt that the main track ‘hotspot’ perhaps isn’t and instead we set up in the Glade behind the Cypress/Greenstreak Tree. From here I ambled about almost stunned by the profusion of Lepidoptera; Mint and micro Moths a plenty, a Treble Bar, Fox Moths flying in their bouncing bomb style and Foresters buzzing by like flying jewels. In amongst the Common Blues, Skippers, Arguses, Heaths (Small) and Greenstreaks the odd Burnet Companion Moth would erupt from the foliage.
I was just about to dismiss another brown/orange job as the same species when it flew differently – less buzzy and more fluttery and somehow it seemed slower and more direct? Luckily it landed and there was my Duke! I stayed with it for a while as the cloud covered the sun.
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around and across and back to where the girls had set up camp. Occasionally though I would leave the confines of the Glade and branch out into other arts parts of the site. One time I entered the Beech Wood and there were Bird’s Nest Orchids – lacking chlorophyll and looking like dead twigs. Another foray out saw me back at the Track and the grasses were alive with Small Heath and Blues of three species (Common, Brown Argus and Small Coppers) all jostling and upsetting each other. A flash of electric blue lad me to my first Adonis of the year.
Back to the Glade and I discovered two more Dukes right in the top corner – Philzoid will know where I mean if I mention 3 Dingies and an OT! Whilst here I also pulled off a shot that I have been trying to emulate for the last 5 years; when I first started I fluked a shot of a female Common Blue sitting on a Dandelion Clock. Since then I’ve always kept an eye out and hoped to replicate it. Today was the day with a Brown Argus perched and pointlessly trying to nectar on one.
- Where the Dukes play!
Time passed and on my final transect of the Glade a black and white moth caught my attention – it turned out to be a Wood Tiger – another Moth first from this site.
All three of us gently ambled back to car and on the Track the odd BA, Grizzlie, Dingy or Small Copper slowed out progress very couple of steps. Almost back at the car I let the girls go on ahead so I could investigate the final little triangle. This is a great little area with at least 9 Adonis Blue males. Star of the show was a stunning male Small Blue right in the middle of the path. As I reached for my camera and slowly inched down the girls called and in the fraction of a second that I lost concentration it was gone. Never mind it would have been the Sprinkles on top of an already very well iced cake!
Have a goodun
Wurzel
I can handle the trousers being damp it's my shoes and socks that are the most uncomfortable part 
You really do have some corkers in your neck of the woods. What a selection, and some great photos too. 
