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)

Hampshire Dragonflies - Titchfield Haven 12th July

With recent reports of up to six Norfolk Hawker at Titchfield Haven I needed to see this species as it was clearly breeding on site with a female being seen ovipositing. It was a species to add to the list of Hampshire breeding species and hence needed to be seen in my quest to seee all the Hampshire breeding dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies this year. It took me three attempts before I finally connected with a stunning, recently emerged male on Darters Dip on the west side of the reserve. He showed superbly well for around 45 minutes before disappearing flying away from the pool. A rather scruffy looking female was also seen. Other new species for the year here were Ruddy Darter and Willow Emerald, the latter also a new species for me.

Norfolk Hawker

Norfolk Hawker

Norfolk Hawker

Norfolk Hawker

Ruddy Darter

Willow Emerald

Silverlake, Corfe Castle and Middlebere Heath, Dorset - 9th July

After a bird survey in Dorchester i made a couple of stops in Dorchester for some invertebrate species I had not seen before. First was at Silverlake, Crossways where last year Scarlet Darter bred, this year there have been counts of up to 20 individuals and so I was fairly confident of encountering this stunning species. My first wander of the lake produced a male Lesser Emperor, a relatively regular migrant that I had also not seen before in the UK. The second circuit of the pond produced a Red-veined Darter, a species I had seen once before in the UK. The third circuit produced the target species, a stunning male Scarlet Darter warming itself it is characteristic vertical posture, but not just one, at least four individuals.

Scarlet Darter

Scarlet Darter

Scarlet Darter

Red-veined Darter

Red-veined Darter

Lesser Emperor

Black-tailed Skimmer

Common Darter

I then headed to Corfe Castle where I parked at the National Trust car park and cafe and quickly encountered Lulworth Skipper on the grassy railway embankment within the car park, a new UK butterfly species for me. I crossed the road and wandered a short way around the banks of the castle seeing several more individuals, all less than fresh and a little past their best, but, a very distinctive, if rather dull, little butterfly.

Lulworth Skipper

Lulworth Skipper

With some quick successes early in the day I then headed to Middlebere Heath for the stunning Purbeck Mason Wasp. A large nesting aggregation of which is present along the track running away from the parking layby. Also present along the path were many other species of hymenoptera with their associated host parasites including two scarce species of bee-fly, Heath Bee-fly and Mottled Bee-fly. It was now very hot and I headed home and back to work after a very early morning and some fantastic invertebrate sightings in Dorset.

Purbeck Mason Wasp

Purbeck Mason Wasp

Mottled Bee-fly

Heath Bee-fly

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