Lucky devil. It's like winter here in Hampshire.

Another dreary, wet and cold day so I thought I would present a little diversion. An enigma (to me at least). Some of the butterflies in the Lycaenidae family perform an odd behaviour – a kind of “wing-roll”. I first noticed this behaviour in the Silver-studded Blue colony on Broxhead Common. If a S...

I forgot to post this entry on the 23rd April because I was only there for 30 minutes while my wife was in the garden centre nearby and it slipped my mind. Site Visit: Alice Holt Arboretum – 23rd April 2018 This is a fine part of the Alice Holt woodland containing a number of trees planted as an Arb...

Neil and Wurzel: Thanks for the moth ID confirmation. It's kind of nice to have experts around to help me in areas I am unfamiliar with. Home Patch: 28th April 2018 Overcast, cold and rainy all day so here are some more archive shots of moths from around my house and garden over recent years. First ...

Home Patch - 27th April 2018 Opposite my house is a pond with a path that runs round it. It is called King’s Pond and was once a millpond but the paper mill which it powered has long gone. Because of its proximity to me it is no problem for me to pop out for five minutes or so whenever I can. Kings ...

Dave, Wurzel and David, many thanks for your comments. Many of those Toothworts were going over but there were still a few in full flush - if you can call it that. Similarly I spoke about the Snakeshead Fritillaries recently and these too are now going over but I am pleased to report that I have fou...

Hi Hoggars I, too have tried to puzzle it out. I have seen these behaviours too as I think I mentioned. There is a place near me that contains a late summer heathland brood. It can grow big but not as big as at Dungeness!!! I have therefore been able to study them like you to a certain extent but ha...

David - from one non-veg grower to another - yes, I like Large Whites too. Interesting that they, themselves can tell gender difference by seeing ultra-violet markings.. Site Visit: Lowton’s Copse - 25th April 2018 Lowton’s Copse is a fine deciduous woodland in the parish of Clanfield famed locally ...

Thank you Goldie, Peter and David for your kind comments. Site Visit: Hartley Maudit - 24th April 2018 Another pond today – this one is beside an old church out in the styx surrounded on all sides by open countryside, its village long ago abandoned and demolished (probably after the plague in the Mi...

Site Visit: Upper Farringdon Churchyard - 23rd April 2018 My first Speckled Wood of the year. It decided to come down to nectar from a daisy right in front of me so I just had to take its picture didn’t I? Speckled Wood - spring (1).JPG However what I came here for stood right beside this young litt...

Thanks Neil, Peter and Goldie for your recent comments. It helps to know if I am on the right track. Swelling Hill Pond – 22 April 2018 This is a pretty but small pond near the village of Four Marks. Well hidden on a country by-road it is a haven for wildlife of many types. Swelling Hill pond (3).JP...

Site Visit: Old Winchester Hill - 21 April 2018 Here is a stunning site with all-round views for many miles across the chalk downlands. It centres on an Iron Age Hillfort which itself in turn surrounds a set of Bronze Age Barrows. Along the ridges one finds blackthorn-sloes, crab apples and elderber...

Hi I'm a new member to this website but I have been dipping into your diary for about a year now and that is because I found a fairly large summer brood near me in 2016. I counted 118 across four connected lowland heaths in Hampshire in the summer of that year. The heaths are called Kingsley, Broxhe...

A couple of years ago I had exactly the same experience as you. A small pond full of newts. It comes as a surprise as its not something that is commonly seen nowadays - not by me at least. I think yours is a very fine picture of a newt. He was very obliging to come out like that for you.

Dave

Love your Holly Blues. They are picking up around here too but certainly not in the numbers you seem to have near you.

Cheers
Ern

Wurzel

Your post made me sit up and think. It seems everyone is posting shots of Small Torts and recording them in some numbers. Is it like this every year at the start of the season or do you think it is a better start for them than usual?

Cheers
Ern

Neil

Stunning clarity in your recent photos. I've not looked at your other posts yet but I will now. I particularly like the way you used the flash on the comma. I might try that myself and see what happens.

Cheers
Ern

Site Visit: Noar Hill - 20th April 2018 Still no Dukes. New since yesterday… Numbers of Brimstone increasing nicely. Interestingly of the 9 I saw on the reserve itself only 2 were male and one of those was in a pair doing their spiral aerobatic dance. There were many more on the road leading up to t...

Site visit: Noar Hill - 18&19/April/2018 I am sure you know about this location because of its Dukes and Brown Hairstreaks but since it is one of my closest nature reserves I thought I’d give an overview. Noar Hill is near Selborne, an area famous for the very first British book on wildlife, “Th...

Wurzel I agree. One year recently I got my first shot of a male Holly Blue with its wings open and I was over the moon. Then my computer crashed and I was unable to get the picture back because I had not backed it up. A warning to us all! It took me two years to get another picture that was its equal.