Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Those Marshie shots are great Wurzel, I've not seen them for yonks, maybe next year Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie That's how far behind on my PD - 'YONKS' I'm sure you'll be able to rustle some up next season

The Devenish 29-05-2020

I was hoping that me new(er) camera was going to turn up at some point but I headed out anyway with the girls to The Devenish. We decided to go early to try and avoid the main heat of the afternoon. We started off in the Orchid Meadow but all was quiet and the only on butterfly that was up and about flying in those patches that the sun had penetrated was a Large Skipper. We carry on up the narrow and very steep track to the main part of the Down where again the place is almost entirely bereft of butterflies. Only a couple of Small Heath break the monotony and so we keep on moving along the top of the Down and into the woodland. When we reach the swings I leave the girls and work back diagonally down the middle section of the Down. Again all is quiet with only singles of Large Skipper and Red Admiral (very distant) to train my lens on. Even the little Paddock area is devoid of butterflies and so I make my way back up to rejoin the girls.

From my treetop vantage point I look both ways along the valley and I can see where the problem lies. The sun is only just reaching these parts of the Down and then only where there are breaks in the treeline, the light like light fingers clawing their way through and at the grasses beyond. Having spotted the problem I then come up with the solution – so I leave the girls and again make my way diagonally across the middle section of the Down this time directly with no weaving here and there to likely looking nectar sources. Now I’m making for those little sections where the sun has broken though sending the shade scattering before it. It does pay and the number of Large Skippers is doubled and then I inadvertently startle a Meadow Brown disturbing it from its slumbers. It flies not just seeking the cover of the longer grasses but also the shade. This means getting slightly different shots than normal with the little shining from behind but I’m quite pleased with this because it gives the butterflies a wonderful halo.

As the girls are still not swung out I move back down into the Orchid Meadow which is the best lit area of the site now although the trees lining it on all sides are still stubbornly refusing to let go of some shade but what sun they have let in has been sufficient to finally get the butterflies up and about. There has in fact been a total sea change and in a very short space of time there are same number of butterflies as I’d seen throughout the rest of the morning. There are two Brown Argus – one of which sits backlit like the Meadow Brown and again producing an aesthetically pleasing pose and a Grizzlie. At the far end a distant Specklie flies more confidently about then the fluttering collection of whites which at times look like they’ll literally fall out of the sky and Blue, joins the tally, judging by the shade and the height its flying at probably a Holly.

I then hotfoot it back up the steep steps cut into the chalk to the top of the first section of the Down spotting at least 5 Large Skippers scattered though the grasses lining the foot of the down at the margins of the line of Beech trees which have been casting their shadows all morning. I come up with another Grizzlie as well as a fast moving Adonis Blue flashing past like lightning here and a the Meadow Browns all follow the Adonis lead. I reach the girls and we finish the circular route that we started and paused so they could swing, leaving the canopy and stomping down the steps before plunging into yet more woodland and ending up back at the Orchid Meadow. The girls settle down in the small sections that are still offering shade as the sun now has a firm grip on the situation and the temperature is rising fast! Whilst they read and try to keep cool I build up a sweat trying to follow the now very active butterflies. The Dingy Skipper didn’t cause any problems as it looked so old and tired I’m not that sure it had much live left in it at all? I sits atop a flower in a most unusual pose, wings held low forming a tent over the flower. It kind of reminded me of a pupil hunkered over a test covering it with their arms lest any cheaters see their answers. However the Brown Argus and Blues cause much racing forward and back as they just won’t sit still and as for the Orange-tip – well not a chance in hell! Surprisingly a Golden-ringed Dragonfly behaves decently and sits nicely for a few shots.

By now it is hot, hot, hot even in the shade and so we beat a retreat for home where the through breeze and cool white walls await.

At The Devenish
A different perspective
Happy with results

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Matsukaze]

Golden-ringed must be a nice find for your part of the country!

[trevor]

Very much looking forward to your shots from Saturday ( sooner rather than later? ).
What a day that was!. Such a great place for everything else as well. Boots well filled.
I hope to pay a return visit while I'm in Wilts over the next few days, as well as Tilshead.

Great time, great company!.
Stay safe & well,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Matsukaze I'm not really up on the distribution of Dragonflies - they're a sort of added bonus to a days butterflying Speaking of which...
Cheers Trevor Working on getting the shots sorted out - I've only got about 38 other posts to do first though The change in the weather hasn't been great - don't know when I'll be getting to Shipton again

Bentley Wood 31-05-2020

I find that my butterflying year can be neatly subdivided by which sites I visit. I start off at Middle Street and Five Rivers, move onto Martin Down and my Duke Site and now I’m getting towards the end of the first stint of Bentley Wood visits. Also as the season progresses I find the ideal time of arrival becomes earlier and earlier as the average daily temperature rises and the butterflies awaken and fly frenetically more quickly. This visit coincided with almost reaching the peak of ‘early bird catches the worm’ and so a little after 9 of the morning clock Dave and I were slowly Social Distancing around the Eastern Clearing. We chatted away as we wandered which was just as well as it seems no-one had told the butterflies about the importance of waking up early during this part of the season. After wandering forwards and backwards across the whole of the main section and some of the further reaches of the Clearing including the little ‘sub clearing’ at the very bottom all we had to show for our efforts was a single Speckled Wood.

We ended up in the central part of the EC where the vegetation is criss-crossed by animal trackways and I check my watch. A couple of minutes past 9:30 and suddenly the switch is thrown – there are butterflies. First up is a Large Skipper and it’s swiftly joined by two more and it’s not the only one gaining more company as another couple of butterfly enthusiasts have arrived to share the clearing with us. They seem pleasant enough but I do expound a few tuts at their lack of SD etiquette. As I’m trying to keep my distance more effectively I spot a moribund Small Pearl (at least I think I spotted it – it might have been Dave that first clapped eyes on it) which is struggling to get out of bed as it crawls up the spiny rush to warm up a little in the morning light. I offer it a hand and it crawls onto my welcoming finger and from there onto a Bracken frond which has been out of the shade for long enough to allow the dew to evaporate. After a few shots I step back and take a quick stroll round this section of the Clearing and another Small Pearl flies and despite missing a chunk from its fore wing this one seems fresher and is much more active. The other enthusiasts are also not that up to date on butterfly etiquette as Dave is having a hard job of getting anything as one of them is a ‘Hogger’ but eventually Dave can get in and I can get a second round of shots.

As is so often the way the butterfly is nicely posed, sitting still and then Philzoid arrives so can be handed his shots on a silver platter as it were ( ). While he’s catching up on the shots Dave and I catch-up with him whilst we wander about in the little section turning up the second Small Pearl again and a brace of Grizzlies. We then regroup…well as much as you can whilst staying 2 metres apart and do a circuit of the main part of the Clearing. At the bottom end there are two Large Skippers and once back in the main part the Small Pearls have now woken up proper and are too active for photography so we move over to the other side of the ditch and check out the area that was cleared a few years back. As we spread out and cover the ground various butterflies turn up; 2 Small Heath, a male Common Blue and two Meadow Browns but most are very flighty and so I try and concentrate only on the Frits. In doing so I found a Pearl, Small Pearl and a Marshie. The first two are flying non-stop now, fully recharged after a brief bask. As I have previously noted however the Marshies like a bit of a lie-in and this one seemed to have followed the same pattern and so was the most sluggish of all the species encountered bar the very first Small Pearl. However what it lacked in energy it made up for in cunning and so once it realised that I was trying to photograph it it glided through the barbed wire fence and flew around the Bracken on the other side mockingly. I wasn’t having that and so I dove under the fence and after a brief stalk got a couple of shots which shut up the smarmy Marshie.

After this our wanderings brought us back to the Main Clearing where the Small Pearls were still bombing around and they had been joined by an aged Marshie, a Skipper (possibly Small?) and a Small Tort – something of a rarity here. Onwards we went and with a quick refreshment break in the car park we set out to see what else was about in the woods. Not an awful lot is seemed until we reached the small pond down past the crossroads. This was alive with Dragon (4 Spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers, Emperors) and Damselflies (Azure and Large Red) and the newer, larger pond we even better although there were fewer perching points.

Eventually even in the shade it had got far too hot and so we walked back and went our separate ways. The next few weeks will see me checking out various grasslands as the Browns and Golden Skippers start to emerge – speaking of which I’m sure that was one I saw earlier…

Three Frit day again
Dragons and Damsels hold sway
Small Skipper maybe?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Slop Bog 02-06-2020 Part 1

The Season was in full throttle and things were progressing very nicely. I felt the calling back home again, I’d already ‘done’ Lulworth so I knew that it was time to visit the amazingly named Slop Bog! The only trouble was that I was back to ‘working from home’ so I would have to be flexible in terms of hours. Luckily the weather aided and abetted me as it was going to be hot – mid to high twenties which would see the Silver Studs motoring around like loons – so I reckoned an early start or an evening visit would make for the easiest photography and I could capture their images in the golden glow at the start or end of the day.

So I managed to get on site by 7:30 and as I strolled along the boardwalk I strained my eyes across the tops of the Purple Moor Grass the occasional tuft of Cotton Grass looking like someone had littered looking for little blue flashes that would inevitably turn into Silver Studs. No such luck but whilst I was being vigilant for the butterflies I was being ‘vigilised’ by the local security – in this case a Fox which watched my progress along the boardwalk and through the gate. Satisfied that I’d kept to the path it was gone. Normally I feel a difference under foot as I step down off of the hard timber boardwalk onto the soft, almost spongy, humus poor soil but not today. The dearth of rain means that this is now less Slop Bog and more ‘Slop A Little Bit Damp In Places’ and I move from a hard timber floor to a hard, compacted soil floor. Nevertheless I scan across the first bit of Heathland and straight away I’m counting double figures of male Silver Studs. I feel a quiet satisfaction that this bit of heath – Silver Studded Heath – is still living up to its name and start following the tiny trackways between the bulging tussocks and tumbling stacks of older heather.

The males even this early in the morning are proving difficult to keep track of as they alternate between basking and flying around within a fraction of a second as I focus in, position myself or even get within 2 metres of them. Still I manage to catch a few males out by standing still and pretending to be a tree. After a few minutes there are blues all around me and I can reach in and get a few shots. This technique seems to work- the only danger is staying still for too long makes me a Tick magnet so between finding a good spot to settle down and wait I spend a fair amount of time brushing my legs or flicking the little gits away into the Heather.

So far it had been all males as to be expected during the first part of their flight so I set out to try and find a few females. I therefore stopped being a tree and started wandering the trackways through the heather and that’s when I twigged what was wrong with the scene before me. Usually it’s a sea of mauve, pinks and white but today there were the odd purple bells scattered about but the main colour of the heather was a greyish brown. It seems that the maritime climate hadn’t protected the heather from the late frosts as I had hoped and they had succumbed, the delicate florets lost, bitten by the frost. I carried on through this depressing landscape which I normally find so joyous to revisit and a singing Tree Pipit does his best to cheer me up. He succeeds and I carry on my quest hoping that the butterflies will emerge and just get on with ensuring the next generation rather than worrying about nectar too much and/or that they can last until the replacement flowers bloom.

By now I’m deep in the Heath, well half way in which isn’t really that far as this is a tiny ribbon like site and I’m starting to see the odd female. The ratio is still quite drastic at about 1 female for every 20 males but surprisingly when I find the females they’re slightly apart from the groups of males. In fact the butterflies seem to be clustered together in disparate little groups, scattered among the Heather. Had I arrived a bit too early and they were only just dispersing from their communal roosts? Perhaps not as now instead of being a tree I could just march through the Heather to one cluster, take a load of photos before they got too warmed up or worked out what I was and then move onto the next cluster. In doing so I was delighted by the subtle variation natural selection would have to work with all cooked up by sexual reproduction. In some males on their hind wing they had bands of colour – white fringes, blue/black and then the royal blue of their ground colour, one end of the spectrum. Others had the same combination of colours but the blue/black cut into the royal blue in a series of scallops (the middle) whilst others at the far end of the spectrum had the white fringe, blue/black band but there were distinct spots akin to those seen on other blues. Brilliant!

After dallying here for some time and finding a few females and trying to get that oily sheen I also stumble (in this uneven terrain this isn’t purely metaphorical) across a male that has only recently emerged. He’d managed to climb to the top of a strand of Purple Moor Grass and his wings were almost fully inflated and dried, with only a slight curve around the base of the hind wings. As I watched an ant climbed up the grass stem and set about the butterfly. It was swiftly joined by a second and then a third and they crawled over the butterfly, clambering over the wings. At first I thought that they were ‘tending’ to it but then I thought that they could be attacking to it as they seemed to have clamped their mandibles on at times?

I'll leave it there for now...

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[kevling]

Wurzel, Slop Bog. I thought you’d made that name up, it’s brilliant. Lovely SSB photos, especially the observations with the ants.

Kind Regards
Kev

[Wurzel]

Cheers Kev I too love the name although there is an interesting Instagram hashtag for it "#slopbogisntactuallythatwet" or some such

Slop Bog 02-06-2020 Part 2

Eventually my meanderings through the moor had brought me back to the patch I’d started at first thing. As is often the way it seems like the best had been left until last as I watched a male approach a female and then bang they were in cop. I settled down into the Heather to try for a few shots but then another male flies in and proceeds to chase them across the Heather tops, when they settle another male joins in the chase and so I wish them luck and leave them to flee whilst still being romantically entangled as it were. However there in front of me were another pair already locked on and in cop – how I’d missed them before I don’t know but now there they were and actually in a better position than the original pairing. As I’m shooting a second male flies in and tries his luck to no avail and luckily for me the pair remain resolute and stay solidly fixed to their stem.

Three’s a crowd...

...the Loser.

The victor!

This seemed a fitting end to the visit (perhaps this is why the best is saved until last?) and so I headed home getting in at just gone 10; so perfectly timed to start the working day and carry on straight through lunch. I’d been on site for just shy of 2 hours, seen hundreds of butterflies including males, females, fresh individuals, those in cop, tired and worn ones, a range of variation even had one on my boot but all were of the same species and that was the only species I’d seen all the time I’d been there. A real habitat specialist!

Sapphire shining
Amid the dusty Heather
Silver studs jump out

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Fantastic SSB shots, you really captured the steely blue of the males as well as that wonderful oily sheen on the females. I didn't get enough of them this year for obvious reasons and next year may be a bit dodgy after half of Chobham Common went up in flames last week .

[millerd]

That was a great account of that morning in the Eastern Clearing, Wurzel - I'm pretty sure it was you who found that sluggish SPBF at the start. A very enjoyable visit.

Slop Bog looks a great place too - different from the very dry sandy heaths of Surrey where I see SSBs every year. I think I've driven past it any number of times on the A31, but never stopped (except in the obligatory traffic queues on that particular bit of road... ) Some terrific shots too: Bugboy has rightly singled out the oily iridescent females - they are a real favourite of mine.

Cheers,

Dave

[Goldie M]

Wurzel, what happened to that Butterfly with the Ants crawling on it It made my skin crawl just to look at it!!! Goldie

[trevor]

Two great Silver Stud sequences, Wurzel. Your visit was timed to perfection.
Some great shots of very fresh specimens, male and female.
They are one species I miss some years, as the nearest reliable colony is 60 miles from home.

Stay safe & well,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Bugboy Philzoid was telling me about Chobham today H was really pi$$ed that the only reason it got on the local news was because they had to evacuate the nearby Golf Club - don't worry about the habitat loss but do worry about a rich persons play park
Cheers Dave I can't remember who found that SPBF what I remember very vividly was the speed with which the other bloke came running once one was seen Next time you're stuck in traffic pop over - you'll be able to get a few shots before the traffic starts up again
Cheers Goldie It was alright in the end - I think it was freshly emerged so once it had dried out it flew off and the ants fell away.
Cheers Trevor They are around at a couple of sites nearer to me - with some even straying into Wiltshire at Landford Bog but I always end up at Slop Bog mainly because of the name

From the sublime to...

Garston Wood 03-06-2020

This was only a quick trip so that I could check in on my mum and dad. The weather had finally broken and the glorious sun and warm weather had been replaced by something much cooler and wetter – almost to the extent that I was left wondering whether the person that had come up with the phrase “Flaming June” was having a laugh!

Despite the cool and wet though I still carried my camera as we followed our usual route around the Wood. Along the bottom track that runs parallel to the road for a bit before it turns to the right and leads uphill into the centre. At the cross-tracks a few Butterfly Orchids were still just about in bloom – as to whether they’re Greater or Lesser I don’t know but they still seemed in fine fettle. I kept my eyes open as we walked on round to the stopping point for Twayblade but I didn’t see any, most probably because I didn’t venture from the path unlike the last time I’d found some.

On through the butterfly enclosure and there were no butterflies, Orchid or proper but the Spotted Orchids were putting on a good show and in the gloom they really stood out. It was only right at the end as we were walking down the main track, with the car in sight that I finally saw a butterfly – a Meadow Brown looking if anything even more miserable than I felt. Oh well some days are like this and you have to have days like these so that you can really appreciate the cracking days. The effort spent today could eventually be repaid by finding a Clouded Yellow or having a storming day filled with Brostreaks later in the season…Fingers crossed!

Too wet and too cool
More Orchids than butterflies
Hope Karma repays?

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

The Devenish 05-06-2020

My wife fancied a bit of a break and so once the girls and I had finished their school work we quickly packed up some food and headed over to The Devenish for some exercise and our lunch. Through the shaded short woodland path we went and Little L demonstrated her gate climbing prowess whilst I went over the stile and K just opened the gate into the Orchid Meadow. It was looking like an insect paradise with different coloured wildflowers peppering the multi-levelled grasses and Demoiselles danced and Bees buzzed energetically with the odd butterfly adding a little bit of panache and je ne c’est quoi to the ensemble. A Large Skipper welcomed us zipping past to our left, a Brown Argus came next bullying another Large Skipper to our right. As we followed the narrow path that runs diagonally across the meadow from the entrance gate to the other gate which leads to the Down one, two, three, four Meadow Browns each completed a superb Jeté from their hiding place in the grass. Then the danseur arrived on the scene completely outshining all the previous members of the chorus – it was a stunning male Dark Green Fritillary catching the sun perfectly and moving like a finger of fire leaping aflame from one nectar source to another. One each of Small Heath and Small Tortoiseshell and a further Meadow Brown completed the chorus line but all eyes were on the lead. When they first arrive on the scene they’re the three ‘B’s’ – Big, bold and brash.

We carried on mesmerised up the steep steps cut into the chalk and I scanned from left to right along the side of the down as we climbed. As we did a medium sized, greyish butterfly flew quickly past before plopping back down into the grass. It took me a moment to realise that it was my first Marbled White of the year so I carefully stepped off the path and waded through the grass to roughly where it went down. It was almost entwined with various stems but I managed a record shot as it’s always nice to get a shot of the first of the year. A worn Adonis Blue male cut by and a few Small Heath made a fuss as we carried on back up and a female Common Blue successfully played hard to get as we reached the top.

Once up I settled the girls down and checking that they were happy I grabbed a few bits of lunch and carefully climbed back down into the Orchid Meadow munching as I went. Butterflying whilst eating has often yielded good results as the butterflies can sense your slight preoccupation I’m sure and so they are a little more approachable – at least this was what I was hoping for particularly as the DGF might still be about. Once in a strolled about working my way to the other end of the field. The Small Tort had been joined by a mate, the DGF was bombing around like it really was aflame and I turned up a second Brown Argus at the far end holding territory and warding off any Meadow Browns that strayed into its air space. On the walk back a Grizzlie popped up for a bit looking lovely and golden in the sun and a Large White did a cursory fly-by.

I made my way once again up the steep slope but this time it was made easier as I took the diagonal tracks that transect the side of the down on the way seeing a few Meadow Browns and another DGF – although this one didn’t stop. Once I met up with the girls we packed up our things and followed the top path as it wound its way along and through the wood to the swing where the girls once more set to swinging. We had a little explore about in the woods as well critiquing the various shelters that others had made and left but we couldn’t locate the mysterious ‘third swing’. Upon our eventual return to the Car Park, our circular walk complete we set out for one last check of the Orchid Meadow. The Ensemble was bolstered by a fantastic male Common Blue and another Grizzlie had turned up but amid all of these species and the numerous Meadow Browns the DGF still captivated the audience (i.e. me) whilst it completed Arabesques, Plies and Pirouettes around the flower tops. Eventually we had to leave the show closed in the same way it had started with a Large Skipper biding us farewell.

Big and bold and brash
The Dark Green Fritillary
The meadow dancer

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Your first Meadow Brown might be a slight ab. hints of addenda with that small extra spot under the main ocelli

[trevor]

Superb Dark Greens, another species I missed this year!. .
Would be interested to know what you make of Larkhill.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[Neil Freeman]

Lovely fresh Dark Green Fritillaries Wurzel. They take me back to those hot days of early summer, seems a long time back now there is a hint of autumn in the air.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, lovely shots of the Dark Green Frit, I missed them this year but I believe they've moved into Brockholes CP which is near me, so hope fully I may get to see them next year, that's if I'm still living here Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Bugboy I did wonder if that was an ab. so I was hoping that you'd pick up on it and save me trawling through the internet trying to work out what it was
Cheers Trevor Thanks for the tip-off I'm definitely going to follow that one up...Whitters on my doorstep all this time
Cheers Neil Autumn has come knocking...well more like it's kicked the door in! Mind you we're still to have the 'Back to School Heatwave'
Cheers Goldie You never know you might end up watching them on the South Downs having already filled your boots with Grizzlies earlier in the year

Ditchling Common 07-06-2020

This year was looking so good back in January. I’d planned trips to Daneways/Collard Hill, Wrecclesham and Chiddingfold, maybe a second trip to Chiddingfold around Emperor time, our holiday destination looked like it was going to be amazing and I was even thinking about biting the bullet and going for my first British Lifer since 2015 in the form of the Black Hairstreak. Then Covid-19 happened, we went into Lockdown; my French holiday was effectively cancelled, Daneways was closed, Collard Hill visits were discouraged, we could only drive short distances for exercise and then driving distances was discouraged…Things were not looking good! Then there was an easing of Lockdown and travel was permitted and more to the point by not making any big trips earlier I’d accrued a sizeable amount of Brownie Points and so I found myself setting out for Ditchling Common at silly o’clock hoping to reach my destination by 8am. The drive wasn’t too bad with selected tunes from Maiden and a large travel mug of coffee to keep me going and so I pulled in just before 8 and only moments after Dave had gotten there.

After collecting all my garb and greeting Dave and Trevor (our guide for the day) we set out to across what felt like a Country Park to the fabled Blackstreak Alley. There were a few butterflies on the wing the best of which was a Green Hairstreak sitting in mixed bed. We carried on arriving at the Alley directly and then we had a little walk around to get a feel for the hotspot. There were a few sections of Blackthorn hedge and I noted the various bramble flowers and nectar spots. After picking up Philzoid we all settled down, socially distanced, to wait for the butterflies to wake up. It was a matter of waiting and watching, staring at the hedge and willing the tiny butterfly to take to the wing or reveal itself.

So we stand and stare…A few Meadow Browns flutter about trying to distract us all and finally just as my neck is starting to seize a tiny dark butterfly appears at the top of the hedge. It jinks its way along the hedge plopping down at the far end. After even more staring at the greenery I manage to relocate it and by stretching my arms out as far as possible and peering through the view finder I have my first images of a Black Hairstreak. It remains here for 5 minutes or so enabling a few people to at least see it and those with the telephoto lens earn the envy of those of us with macros. After this I return to the very short distance to the start of the hotspot. As Dave, Trevor and I are talking a Black Hairstreak just appears in one of the tree tops on our left and then flutters down landing on a stand of Bracken just in front of us. As we watch it ‘hops’ to another stand of Bracken allowing a couple of shots before it flies up high and landing somewhere in the middle of the hedge at the very top.

After this we all split-up and wander round trying to find a few more Blackstreaks. Along the way there are Meadow Browns and Large Skippers a plenty and after completing a circuit round I find myself just round the corner and so on the other side of the hedge from the main Alley. A few of us watch with bated breath as a distant butterfly jinks its way downwards in typical Hairstreak style. As it lands on the Bracken all of our lens, be them camera of binocular, are pointed at the little butterfly like a lepidopteran firing squad. The butterfly doesn’t hang around down on the bracken long, possibly because it can detect the palpable air of disappointment, and it swiftly arises again muttering “I didn’t ask to be Green Hairstreak did I?” to itself as it goes. So it’s back to hedge staring and I end up back where the first one had been seen. Something is moving up high and I can see the now familiar little triangle for a few fleeting seconds before its twists and turns mean that its face on and so it drops off the radar. For some reason I find myself rooted to the spot, willing it to come down from its lofty perch. And so it does but not to the surrounding flowers but just about head height. I call out and others come running and we fan out around it trying for some shots. Its not in a great position and it quite mobile so the stunningly sharp shots that I was hoping for look like being evasive but still I click away. It flutters to another leaf where it is slightly obscured and then another where it’s slightly higher and it looks to be seeking out a suitable spot to lay eggs eventually crawling along a twig upside down and dragging its abdomen along the bark. I don’t care about the leaves in the way, I don’t care that its constantly moving and so getting any sort of shot is down to luck, I’m just enjoying watching a new species. I’m drinking it all in, observing for all I’m worth – trying to work out comparative size, marvelling at how the colours changes from dark brown almost black to a golden grey as the light hits it from different angles, noting the weak fluttery flight when it looks sometimes like it’ll just drop from the sky, noting how hairy it is and the identification features (extended orange band which runs onto the fore wing and the black spots) – it’s a cracking looking little butterfly. Then it sits still perfectly in line with my lens, it’s the perfect Black Hairstreak shot. As I focus I’m chuffed that I’ll get that one shot that’ll I’ll cherish…and then some bloody Johnny come bloody lately bloody bloke bloody well stands right in bloody front of me! Then the butterfly is gone, back up to its refuge in the top of the tree. The perfect shot, my ‘payment’ for patiently waiting for it, ripped away from me…but it’s okay because Johnny Come Lately got his shot! Gnashing teeth I move back to the Hotspot and angrily take a few shots of a Large Skipper – almost wrenching the focus wheel off the lens in my frustration.

I get back to walking the circuit (still stomping slightly) and staring at the hedge even though it’s seeming like all is now lost, my chance missed, I just hoped that one would come down again. But as I walk it feels like this is becoming less and less likely. Two more are seen but both are up high and show no inclination of debasing themselves. They’re just not coming own today. Still even if the butterflies aren’t behaving at least the company is great and we have a good old chinwag in between forays out from the hotspot. As we’re regaling each other with tales Dave Cook appears and tells us that he’s had 6 or 7 and all down low over the course of the morning almost admonishing us for sticking to the Alley. So we set off further into the site which it turns out is actually huge continuing on the other side of the road. As we walk every clump of Bramble is checked by 5 pairs of eyes but apart from one dead one there is still a lack of butterflies. When we cross the road we carry on seeing lots of perfect looking habitat and loads of other butterflies from an ever expanding range of species – H.Commas, Peacocks, Specklies and Small Heaths. There are Large Skippers all over the place and Meadow Browns aplenty but alas no Hairstreaks and so we wend our way back to the Hotspot as my time is running out and it’s on the way to the car.

Once back at the Hotspot I’m rounding up the day, saying goodbyes, making future arrangements and generally stealing myself for the long journey back when I spy two small butterflies at the top of a large Oak. When I focus in and then crop in as much as Impossibly can on my camera I can see that it is a Black Hairstreak and so we all now crick our necks back as much as possible and watch and hope that it decides to descend. Something Hairstreak like does indeed come down but it’s a Greenstreak – possibly the same as earlier in the day and once again it flies off stung by our disappointment. But then the one we’ve been watching does come down. It stops oh so briefly on a Bramble leaf but then does that annoying ‘angling to the sun’ trick before flying off again.

I say my final goodbyes and back to the car chuffed that I’ve seen a few and got something for the Black Hairstreak folder waiting for me to populate on my laptop at home. They weren’t the best views nor shots but next time the pressure will be off and it won’t matter as much so I should be able to get something a little better. It was also great meeting up with Dave, Philzoid and our inimitable guide Trevor for the day!

A massive journey
And butterflies don’t behave
Still get a Blackstreak

OR

Small jinking black blob
Shy little butterfly hides
Fleeting glimpse down low

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[trevor]

A certain law was well and truly in charge on the day of your visit to Ditchling!
The conditions were near perfect, but the Black Hairstreaks refused to play ball in any number.
At least you manged to make the most of those few that did appear, with some great shots too.

Co-incidentally we have both acted as tour guides for each other this year,
and Hairstreaks were the target on both occasions. Shipton B is now on my annual ' must visit ' list!.

Strangely, I had a ' Johnny come lately ' type at Steyning once. He had never seen a Brownie before.
I located one, and foolishly, called him over before I had taken a shot myself. He came charging in
with all the finesse of a Bull in a china shop and sent the thing up without even seeing it!.

Stay safe and well,
Trevor.