Hampshire Butterflies - Martin Down 6th July

I had planned to visit Martin Down NNR for Chalkhill Blue and Wall with Quail having been reported over the last couple of days adding an additional incentive. I parked at the Sillen Lane car park and walked west and quickly encountered a Quail singing from the first corn field to the north of the track and then a second singing at close range from the reserve, and then a third from the next cornfield and as I headed west two further birds were singing from the reserve. There were at least five Quail singing although there were reports today of seven. After some time sound recording on of the closest quail (see my eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S257449031) I crossed over to Bockerley Dyke and walked south before crossing back to the car park. The grassland was alive with butterflies with numerous Chalkhill Blue seen but no sign of Wall despite checking some of the main spots, perhaps my visit was timed between broods. Other species seen included Dark-green Fritillary, Small Copper, Common Blue, Essex Skipper, Small Skipper and Large Skipper.

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper showing the diagnostic black antennae tips

Essex Skipper with the Conopid fly Sicus ferrugineous

Dark-green Fritillary

Dark-green Fritillary showng the white underwing spots which Silver-washed Fritillary lacks

Dark-green Fritillary note the black ant attached to the hind leg

Gatekeeper

Small Copper

Ringlet

The rare Large Red-belted Scabious Bee Andrena hattorfiana

Hampshire Dragonflies - Cadnam Common Pond 4th July

In my quest to see all of the regularly breeding dragonflies and damselflies in Hampshire this year I had tried a couple of sites for Emerald Damselfly but with no luck and so, with a tip off from Steve, I met Steve and Niall at Cadnam Common, a site that I had never visited before. From the roadside layby we headed out across the common to the rapidly shrinking pond where before very long Steve located Emerald Damselfly around a clump of Juncus. Over the next couple of hours we enjoyed the abundant insect life around this pond with a good range of Odonata, including my first Hampshire Common Darter of the year as well as a few notable flies - you gotta love flies to appreciate them!

Emerald Damselfly

Emerald Damselfly

Emerald Damselfly

Common Darter

Common Darter - A freshly emerged individual

Black-tailed Skimmer

Keeled Skimmer

Emperor Dragonfly

Small Red Damselfly

The localised Brown Heath Robberfly

The highly localised dung-fly Scatomyza scybalaria, a species requiring very wet, dung enriched mud in which to breed

Not an especially rare species but this large female Tabanus sudeticus was egg laying, a behaviour I had not observed before. The image below shows the completed egg mass.

Egg mass of Tabanus sudeticus

Hampshire Dragonflies and Damselflies - Ober Water 29th June

In really hot and humid conditions during the UK's second heatwave of the year I wandered Ober Water looking for White-legged Damselfly and Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly. The stream was absolutely heaving with Odonata and despite the heat it was an amazing location with Beautiful Demoiselle, White-legged Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Small Red Damselfly, Southern Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Emperor Dragonfly, Gold-ringed Dragonfly, Downy Emerald and Keeled Skimmer being recorded - 12 species in total. Of my targets, White-legged Damselfly was present in abundance with many mating pairs while Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly was only seen in one small area (centred around 50.834124, -1.638628) with three males present. I was pleased to get back to the air conditioned car!

Beautiful Demoselle or the rare Hampshire Purslane

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Downy Emerald - A rare view of a perched individual

White-legged Damselfly

White-legged Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly

Hatchet Small Pond and Hawkhill Inclosure - 29th June

A quick stop for a couple of species for my Hampshire butterfly, dragonfly and damselfly list. First was Hatchet Small Pond where Small Red-eyed Damselfly was new for the year and then to the heathland south of Hawkhill Inclosure, a regular spot for Grayling which also produced the rare, Marbled Clover.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly - Note that water mites present on the underside of the abdomen, I have noticed this on several damselflies at this pond during the summer.

Grayling

Marbled Clover

Keeled Skimmer

Hampshire Butterflies - Whiteley Pastures - 22nd June

Headed to Whiteley Pastures mainly for Purple Emperor, I had to cross the Hamble into east Hampshire, not something I do very often but there seem to be very few reliable sites in west Hampshire. Walked a big loop of the woodland getting views of several Purple Emperor high in the trees. It was not until having almost completed the loop that good views of Purple Emperor were obtained, however, these were flying around the tops of willows and lower levels of oak but not coming to ground - glimpses of purple were none-the-less obtained. The best location was at 50.8877, -1.2352429.

Comma

White Admiral

Red Admiral

Silver-washed Fritillary

Gold-ringed Dragonfly

The grossly spectacular Tachinid fly Nowickia ferox

Hampshire Dragonflies - Warren Heath 16th June

In my quest to see all the regularly breeding Hampshire dragonflies in 2025, one of the most tricky species was going to be Brilliant Emerald with only one site where the species was reported in Hampshire in 2024 on iRecord.  So on 19th June I parked in the church carpark at 51.342116, -0.881581 and slogged south to the pond at 51.322250, -0.885302. Fortunately, within 30 minutes or so of arriving a had located a couple of Brilliant Emerald in the east of the pond with Downy Emerald and then eventually pinned down a more obliging male patrolling a territory in the west of the pond. This was a fantastic odonata site with other highlights being Brown Hawker, Large Red-eyed Damselfly, Gold-ringed Dragonfly and many Four-spotted Chaser. The walk back was far harder than the walk down, with an uphill slope and 26c heat and blazing sun, it was good to get back to the car and turn up the air conditioning!

Brilliant Emerald

Downy Emerald

Emperor Dragonfly

Grass Snake

Grass Snake