David

Just catching up with your PD - I must admit to having to go back a bit. My favourite is your pic of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth at rest. That's quite a rare image! I bet you are pleased with that.

Dave

Catching up with your PD.

Love your open-wing Cloudie shots and the one with blue sky behind. I have not had much luck with them this year. I believe I have only seen two and both in fast flight. Nice to see your Coppers of course, esp the finger shot. And the finger shot Small Heath too.

7th Oct 2020 Broxhead 6 Small Coppers in the area that has had highest numbers this year - so clearly we are now in decline. None can be added to my annual count though as they were all starting to show wear so I am almost certain to have counted them already. Kingsley 2 Small Coppers on the verge b...

Dave - I had an idea they might be long-lived but its nice to see you were able to prove it.
Wurzel - Small Coppers have so many interesting features about them, don't they?
David - Nice to hear that Small Coppers are doing well round your way too.

29th Sep 2020 Broxhead My count of Small Coppers at Broxhead this year stands at 73, tantalizingly close to my all-time record which is 79. The last time I did this particular transect was on 16th Sep 2020, 13 days ago. I saw a total of 15 Small Coppers on my walk today. Now it is of course possible...

Dave and David - I'll keep a look out for those late Holly Blues if the weather improves! Wurzel - Yep - I saw another high-flyer Small Copper over the last few days. They are quite difficult as they can be in silhouette against the sky but as soon as you see them against the background of the tree ...

Kingsley Common 17 new Small Coppers today in a different part of the common to the other day bringing my total here to 29 this week. But for me - more remarkable was a sighting of a Holly Blue. Kingsley is known for its Spring-time Holly Blues but not for its Autumnal ones so this was unexpected de...

Wurzel - I saw two more flying high at Kingsley today. Is it a trend amongst Coppers now or (more likely) am I just seeing it more now I know it happens?
Subconsciously looking for it perhaps.

Shortheath reserve at Oakhanger village My closest heath. It's not big but it does have Coppers. In fact it had 14 today that I could see. This one flew off after having its pic taken and what a surprise. It went up and up and up until it was the height of the Oak canopy when it then flew between th...

And so to Kingsley Common. Since I had exhausted the Small Coppers at Broxhead for a couple of weeks, it was time to move on - not far though - about half a mile away from Broxhead is Kingsley Heath. The transect today yielded 12 individuals but they were not easy to find because many were females e...

I am a bit embarrassed. I was so surprised that Grayling have been recorded at Woolmer when I thought I had never seen any at neighbouring Broxhead that I decided to wade through my records and sure enough - this was NOT my first sighting of one at Broxhead. I did see one before some years ago. So m...

Quick update re Grayling. I checked on the internet and there are records of Grayling on the Woolmer heathland. I guess this is where my one at Broxhead hailed from.

Wurzel, Dave - I have seen them at Thursley, Farnham - Folly Hill and Longmoor. After checking I believe I am right in saying Longmoor is the closest. The distance edge to edge between these two reserves is 5 miles but I have only ever seen them at Longmoor well into that reserve, and the one I saw ...

Broxhead yet again. 5 new Small Coppers today in another part of the reserve not yet visited for them this year bringing my overall annual total to 73 for this location (that includes the three I saw here when the Silver-studded Blues were around). I have now visited all those parts of the reserve t...

Two more parcels of Broxhead Common investigated for Small Coppers today. One section used to be excellent for them but over the years became choked with gorse and bracken - so much so there came a point where it was almost impossible to enter and if you could fight your way in, then it was impossib...

Wurzel - I love the "Constabulary" of Coppers. I must try and remember that for future.

Broxhead again This time I walked a loop that was completely separate from where I have been looking up until now. I only found 3 more Small Coppers raising my count here to 48 but they were all fresh. Two males were jousting when I came upon them first time. They took off, battled for a bit then on...

Thanks, David. This single reserve is great in Summer for Silver-studded Blues and then later in early Autumn for the Small Coppers. The fact it's only a few miles away from my house means I am over there rather a lot!!!

Broxhead again Small Copper numbers have doubled over the past 3 days since I was last here. I counted 39 today of which I am pretty sure 22 were new so I can add those to my accumulative total which is now 45 for this site, this month. This one was showing verdigris and blue badges at the same time...

2.15 pm, 14th Sep 2020, the car drive next to my house. Full, bright sunshine on the hottest day of this month so far (27 degrees) and what do I see out of my kitchen window? A brown thrush-sized object flying about, a bit brown and a bit furry. Furry?!? Double-take. No. It was a bat to-ing and fro-...