The Deskbound Birder: Common Blue

Showing posts with label Common Blue. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 May 2025

Hampshire Butterflies - Martin Down 17th May

My second outing in my quest to see all of the regularly breeding butterflies in Hampshire took me to Martin Down on 17th May primarily for Marsh Fritillary which is on the wing from mid-May to mid-June. Its very important to target these species with short flight periods at the peak of their season to avoid missing them - although I guess thats an obvious statement, even with so few species to see in Hampshire, some planning is required. Other targets here were Adonis Blue, Green Hairstreak and Small Blue all of which were seen.

Marsh Fritillary - Slightly worn but still a stunning and highly localised

species in Hampshire

Marsh Fritillary - A much fresher individual than that above

Marsh Fritillary

Adonis Blue - Intense blue with black lines crossing through the white border of both fore and hind wings, a stunning species of sparse chalk grassland

Green Hairstreak

Small Blue

Small Heath

Common Blue - Note how the black sub-margin of the wing lacks the cross lines bisecting the white wing border unlike Adonis Blue

Brimstone - An egg laying female, note the egg towards the base of the plant

on the right hand side

Grizzled Skipper

Burnet Companion

Forester Moth

The stunning hoverfly Xanthogramma citrofasciatum

The bumblebee mimic hoverfly Volucella bombylans

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

Noar Hill National Nature Reserv, Selbourne - 21st May

After a breeding bird survey near to Havant I headed to Noar Hill National Nature Reserve to see if I could connect with Duke of Burgundy. This 20 hectare reserve was was formerly a medieval chalk working is owned and managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT). The reserve consists of a mosaic of scrub and species rich grassland which has a high diversity of invertebrates, many of which are rare and scarce. The population of Duke of Burgundy at the site is one of the strongest in Hampshire and, while towards the end of the flight season, I was keen to see this rare and localised species which is on the wing for only a few weeks in a year. On arrival at the site the first butterfly I saw was indeed a Duke of Burgundy but it was a very tatty individual with worn wings and a missing antennae. The next butterfly was a stunning and pristine Small Blue and then a Dingy Skipper. I began to encounter more Duke's and through the hour or so I was at the site I encountered around 15 specimens, mostly they were fairly worn, but I came across at least three fresher individuals.

It was still a little early for the vegetation to be in full bloom but there were hundreds of Common Twayblade and Cowslip as well as around 10 Early Purple Orchid which were far past there best. It was a very enjoyable stop but the pressure was on to get back to my desk.

Duke of Burgundy - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Small Heath - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Common Blue - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Small Blue - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Dingy Skipper - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

The micromoth Pyrausta purpurea - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Common Twayblade - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Eyebright - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Common Milkwort - Noar Hill NNR, Selbourne

Sunday, 10 June 2018

Cotswold Weekend - 9th and 10th June

We spent the weekend at our cottage in Cowley in the Cotswolds with our good friends Trevor and Julie Codlin. Trevor and I ran the moth trap on both Friday and Saturday night recording a good range of spring and early summer species. On Sunday we headed out looking for butterflies. First we visited Daneway Banks Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Reserve where we had reasonable views of recently emerged Large Blue. Speaking to a chap who we met at the reserve who worked on the Large Blue Recovery Project it would appear that the peak count of Large Blue at this site has been 63, we were perhaps a week or two early for such large numbers.

Large Blue - Daneway Banks GWT Reserve

Common Blue - Daneway Banks GWT Reserve

Daneway Banks GWT Reserve - We found our first Large Blue in the far area of grassland in this image

We then headed for Three Groves Wood GWT Reserve only a few miles away but it seemed like an eternity as we weaved through the narrow Cotswold Lanes. The main target here was Marsh Fritillary and we soon found up to 13 of these beautiful insects as they fed on the numerous yellow composites flowering in the grassland.