Goldie - Thanks. I like pics of butterflies in their setting. I know there are techniques one can use to get the background and foreground in focus at the same time but I don't really know how to do it - in any case I actually don't mind the blurring of the background. Paul - Yes, I like Beacon Hill...

Paul, great series of WLH pre-butterfly shots. It will help me in my searches this year.

Kev. Finding and getting pics of Wall Browns would be a good enough ambition for me - not one that is likely to be fulfilled in my neck of the woods.
But you have them flying over cliffs! I think the one you have taken with the sea in the background is fantastic.

I like pics of butterflies in a setting and you have aced it with your Duke on a Field Maple.

Love your Jurassic Coast "Dinosaur" pics Wurzel.
By the way did you know there is a fossilized forest on the far side of the cove along the coast?

Noar Hill – June 2nd 2018 The reserve Meet and Greet butterfly.jpg A short trip yielded a few butterflies but nothing new. For the record in 1 hour I saw five Small Blue, many Common Blue and Small Heath, a 6-spot Burnet, a Green Hairstreak and 2 Dingies, one which had wings so tatty and torn it was...

It's interesting seeing how the Holly Blue choice of food plant changes as the year progresses, Buggy. Certainly right at the start of their season they lay on holly, but holly flower buds opened weeks ago, and they progressed to dogwood. These buds have largely opened now, and the butterflies have...

Old Winchester Hill - June 3rd 2018 PICT2089.JPG Quite a fair number of butterfly species here today. Small Heath, Common Blue, Small Blue, Small Copper, Small, Large and GV White, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Dingy Skipper. Also Burnet Companion moth. However, my target t...

David - You are right. When you are keen on butterflies, you just can't help getting into flowers a bit too.

Andy - Great you got a pair of mating Adonis but even better was the very blue female Common Blue.

Beacon Hill - 2nd June 2018 A South Downs chalk hill, topped with a small woodland. A stream passes below which supplies the watercress beds here. Watercress Beds at foot of hill.JPG There is a good variety of butterflies here but I usually visit at the beginning of June to combine them with the orc...

Noar Hill - 1st June 2018 Is this the end of Spring and the start of Summer? Well it was warm but very overcast, although the sun did peep through on occasion. I came here primarily to check up on the Fly Orchids but of course any butterfly that came by would be a treat. And unlike the other day whe...

Wurzel - glad you liked the spreadsheet. Obviously its not fixed. I update it all the time - but it is firmed-up enough to use now. And yes - Fragrant Orchids are fragrant as you rightly point out. They also have more open spacing between their blooms than the Common Spotted Orchid (and the slightly...

Noar Hill - 30th May 2018 So I went to Noar Hill on a gloomy day not expecting to see any butterflies and that exactly what I saw - not even any roosting. So instead today I thought I would post the spreadsheet that I keep for my records on what I have seen, when and where I have seen it. If anyone ...

David - You got me thinking. I had seen all three of these Frit species before but I had never seen a mating pair of Speckled Yellow moths before. The more I thought about it, do you know I don't think I have ever seen a pair of moths mating before of any type, let alone get a pic of it.

Neil - Wow. I am lucky if I get to see a dozen or so Adonis in a year and I have only ever seen one mating pair. It sounds a fantastic location for them. Could it be a record site?

Its a dreary, rainy day in North-east Hampshire today so its time for another instalment of my Small Copper study. This is the last part of this four-part series of posts on Small Coppers in my area. This one covers the specific plant life in and around Broxhead in the late summer that makes this ar...

Thanks, Mike. Yes, its nice to have some good local sites but I have always thought that no matter where you live you can always find some great wildlife and the diary entries of the people of this forum bear this out.

Cheers

Aha! So its time for me to go to Broxhead SSB lek then is it? Thanks for the tip, Pauline. Great shots too - as always.

Neil, what a wonderful day you had. A Wall, a Wood Tiger, mating Small Blues and an ab Burnet, not to mention the spooky woodland mist. I would be happy if I saw any one of these in a day.