Hampshire Butterflies - Shipton Bellinger 20th July

With one full day left before my trip to Indonesia I had planned to go to Shipton Bellinger for two of the last three Hampshire butterflies I needed for my year list, but, in the event the morning was overcast, windy and with occasional heavy downpours and I had allbut scrapped the idea. At 11:00 some brighter spells began to develop and so I decided to try my luck but as I headed northwards through heavy rain and flooded roads I was not hopeful. On arrival though the clouds broke and the sun appeared and I was slightly more optimistic as I headed along the Shipton Road Byway extending west from the village. It was not long before I set eyes upon my first target, Wall, of which I eventually saw around eight individuals. The tree tops were blowing around in the wind and I was not hopeful of seeing Brown Hairstreak but then I glimpsed a small butterfly flying around the top of a Hawthorn, I lost it a few times and then saw it settle, and there it was, a stunning little Brown Hairstreak.

Wall

Wall - Amazing camoflage when the wings are closed

Brown Hairstreak - High in the top of a wind blown Hawthorn

So with just Silver-spotted Skipper to see to complete my year list of regularly breeding Hampshire butterflies and a few more species of Odonata the below tables show my sightings to date. It has been an early season this year and I am hoping the skipper is still on the wing for my return - they might be a little tatty by early August as there have already been a few sightings in Dorset. There are a few more later flying Odonata to see but plenty of time for these before I start on completing my list of Hampshire Orthoptera many of which persist into September and October.

Butterfly sightings 2025 (species marked orange are those not yet seen)

Dragonfly and Damselfly sightings 2025 (species marked orange are those not yet seen)

A Long Hot Summer

The summer has been long and hot and I have done little but for work most evenings and many weekends with little time for birding. This is a summary of the highlights of my summer before, with luck, Autumn kicks in and tI can get out and see some birds.

I have been carrying out vegetation and butterfly surveys at Bedwyn Brail in Wiltshire, this woodland block is always a pleasure to work in and I recorded three new species for the site, most exciting was an egg laying female Purple Emperor but these Chimney Sweeper and Forester moths were nice additions.

Chimney Sweeper - Bedwyn Brail, Wiltshire

Forester - Bedwyn Brail, Wiltshire

I have been carrying out extensive invertebrate surveys on Portsmouth Water sites in Hampshire and West Sussex with Adam Wright. These have produced a few interesting species including a new colony of Small Red-eyed Damselfly and a whopping count of 31 Asilus crabroniformis at a site on Portsdown Hill. The latter is one of my favourite invertebrates and to find such a strong colony was very satisfying.

Bee Orchid - Near Wickham, Hampshire

Small Red-eyed Damselfly - Fishbourne, West Sussex

The Tachinid Fly Prosena siberita - Near Wickham, Hampshire (O)

The Longhorn Beetle Paracorymbia fulva - Near Wickham, Hampshire (O)

The Longhorn Beetle Agapanthia villosoviridescens - Near Wickham, Hampshire (O)

The Picture-winged Fly Chaetorellia jaceae - Near Wickham, Hampshire (O)

Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi - Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth (O)

Asilus crabroniformis - Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth (O)

Asilus crabroniformis - Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth (O)

My only visit to Crockford Bridge this summer was on 26th June where the usual range of New Forest Odonata put on a good show.

Small Red Damselfly - Crockford Bridge

Southern Damselfly - Crockford Bridge

Beautiful Demoiselle - Crockford Bridge

Beautiful Demoiselle - Crockford Bridge

On 28th June I popped to Bentley Wood to try and see Purple Emperor. I met with some success but the only 'grounded' Emperor was in the shade and not showing much purple.

Purple Hairstreak - Bentley Wood

Broad-bodied Chaser - Bentley Wood

Red-necked Footman - Bentley Wood

Purple Emperor - Bentley Wood

On 4th July, having heard of large numbers of Purple Emperor present, I visited the Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After seeing around 12 Purple Emperor I eventually encountered one on the ground which showed fairly well. On the day before my visit there was an impressive count of 388 Purple Emperor at this site!

Purple Emperor - Knepp Estate

Purple Emperor - Knepp Estate

We visited the Isles of Scilly on a family holiday for a week from the 7th July. I didn't do any birding as such but did run my Heath moth-trap at the Star Castle and went on a pelagic on 10th July. The latter didn't produce many birds as the conditions were too calm but we did see around 12 Blue Shark, Ocean Sunfish, 12 Bottle-nosed Dolphin and 25 Common Dolphin. Moth highlights were two new British species for me, Shore Wainscot and Devonshire Wainscot,

Shore Wainscot  - St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly

Devonshire Wainscot  - St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly

 Marbled Coronet - St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly

Four-spotted Footman (female) - St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly

Four-spotted Footman (male) - St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly

Ocean Sunfish - At Sea, Isle of Scilly

Blue Shark - At Sea, Isle of Scilly

Great Skua - At Sea, Isle of Scilly

Rose Chafer Cetonia aurata - Peninnis Head, St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly

Trips to Pennington  20th and 24th July produced relatively little but these three Curlew Sandpiper and a Little Stint on 20th July were very welcome.

Curlew Sandpiper - Pennington Marsh 20th July (O)

Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh 20th July (O)

Little Egret - Pennington Marsh 20th July (O)

Reed Warbler - Pennington Marsh 20th July (O)

On 24th July I was working near Noar Hill NNR and so I couldn't resist popping by for a couple of hours.

The Hoverfly Sericomyia silentis - Noar Hill NNR 24th July (O)

Brimstone - Noar Hill NNR 24th July (O)

Brimstone - Noar Hill NNR 24th July (O)

Brown hairstreak - Noar Hill NNR 24th July (O)

Weekends in the cottage in the Cotswolds allowed me to spend some time at Slimbridge 31st July and 11th August where a few migrant waders had begun to trickle through and Avocet showed well.

Avocet attacking Shelduck chick - Slimbridge 31st July (O)

Green Sandpiper - Slimbridge 11th August (O)

Green Sandpiper - Slimbridge 11th August (O)

Ruff - Slimbridge 11th August (O)

Ruff - Slimbridge 31st July (O)

This summer I sold my beloved Canon 7d Mark II and 500mm Mark II and purchased a new camera system, the Olympus OMD E-M1 Mark II with the 60mm macro, 70-150mm and 300mm lens. I have found adjusting to the system a steep learning curve having been using Canon kit for the last 20 years or so but I am getting to the point where I am pleased with the images I am obtaining, particularly the macro shots. Images taken with the new Olympus are marked (O) after the caption. For the time being at least most images on this blog will be shot with the Olympus kit. The full list of my Olympus kit can be seen on my About page here.

July Invertebrates

I have been carrying out invertebrate surveys down in the Yeovil area of Somerset over the last few days (well pretty much two weeks actually) with Adam Wright. We didn't find anything too exciting but here are a few snaps taken with my iPhone.

The hoverfly Ferdinandea cuprea

The hoverfly Volucella zonaria

The snail Succinea putris

The micro-moth Ypsolopha sequella, a Field Maple feeder

Brown Hairstreak egg in the fork of a Blackthorn

Blood-vein

Shaded Broad-bar

The rare Tephritid (Picture-winged Fly) Acanthiophilus helianthi which feeds on Black Knapweed but here on Saw-wort

Silver-washed Fritillary

Speckled Bush-cricket

Brown Argus