May 15th: St Catherine’s Hill
From the top of the hill there is a wonderful view across the water meadows to St Cross Priory.
![St Cross Abbey from the rampart.JPG (3.23 MiB) Viewed 31161 times St Cross Priory from St Catherine's Hill](./files/thumb_16593_741572237a0c8c06ab1111a5793d26a6)
- St Cross Priory from St Catherine's Hill
Today was a beautiful hot, sunny day when I got here around noon and if you got out of the breeze it was wonderful for butterflies. I had been observing Grizzled Skippers and Green Hairstreaks when I saw what I thought was a “big” butterfly go by and land in front of me. It turned out to be a Small Heath – my first of the year. This is it.
![Small Heath at St Cats Hill (1).JPG (3.8 MiB) Viewed 31161 times First Small Heath of the year](./files/thumb_16593_4edb90ebfbda36ee6ec3ebab97af6365)
- First Small Heath of the year
It astounded me that size is so relative. I got so used to looking at truly small butterflies that this looked big by comparison.
There were eight Green Hairstreaks all in one location. Two pairs of males continuously battled it out while I spotted the others only when two male Holly Blues came by, patrolling the hedgerow and the Green Hairstreaks went up to shoo them off. Of course the Holly Blues just carried on looking for females regardless of these ”pesky” little greenstreaks. That meant that every time the Holly Blues came by (and they kept on coming by, back and forth), the greenstreaks would “buzz” them.
There were plenty of male and female Brimstones, GV Whites, a single Small White and one Peacock.
One of the Grizzled Skippers was on the ground laying eggs. Here are two shots. Not the best in the world (grass gets in the way a lot at this height) but its the first time I have captured this so I am quite pleased. I guess you will have to click on the images to enlarge them to see the action better.
![Grizzled Skipper laying eggs (1).JPG (3.42 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Grizzled Skipper laying eggs at St Cat's Hill](./files/thumb_16593_2f931614232090d3c6038fd0ccd3378d)
- Grizzled Skipper laying eggs at St Cat's Hill
![Grizzled Skipper laying eggs (2).JPG (3.72 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Ditto from a slightly different angle](./files/thumb_16593_64ac3c9c9a18c67b13891d037d6e0d5d)
- Ditto from a slightly different angle
I then decamped to nearby Magdalen Hill. There is a quick way to get to the bottom of the hill from the bottom gate on the Winchester by-pass road so I used that. It is yet again a very sheltered location and immediately (now 1 pm) I saw another Grizzled Skipper and this one was being hounded by a Brown Argus. This was my first Brown Argus of the year. Then I spotted a second Brown Argus and they found one another and proceeded to spar. I was only here ten days ago and saw none so these two were fresh “out of the box”.
![Brown Argus at Mag Hill (2).JPG (2.59 MiB) Viewed 31161 times First Brown Argus of the year at Magdalen Hill](./files/thumb_16593_cd44178423fec9a94f3971c85cb4a60f)
- First Brown Argus of the year at Magdalen Hill
I spoke to one guy who was passing me. He was doing a transect of the site and told me the first Small Blue of the year for Mag Hill was in the Scrape at the top of the hill. Nice to know, but I didn’t have the energy to climb all the way up there to see it. I took his word for it. I will see them another time when they are closer to their peak. Its more fun when you are surrounded by them.
Just as well because I then spotted my first and second Common Blue of the year. Here is the first. Amazingly bright blue – another freshie.
![Common Blue at Mag Hill (1).JPG (2.53 MiB) Viewed 31161 times First Common Blue of the year at Mag Hill](./files/thumb_16593_3a8c14c3d8209fd3bd63094ad13e9aa9)
- First Common Blue of the year at Mag Hill
It did a “wing-roll” a couple of times while I watched it too, just to add icing to the cake.
There was also a female Orange Tip and another Green Hairstreak and more Brimstones.
In my previous posts I have used my first sighting of a species in the year as an excuse to show past pics. I spotted three new species today – so there is a lot to get through, so here goes…
Starting with the Small Heath.
![Small Heath - male (1).JPG (2.21 MiB) Viewed 31161 times From a previous year](./files/thumb_16593_4d20b099d3a5c1c9c1672edf0d83664a)
- From a previous year
![Small Heath - male.jpg (2.33 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Backlit](./files/thumb_16593_a30557511aee0ee283d8a9270a8dbd05)
- Backlit
![Small Heath - mating - female on right.JPG (3.98 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Mating](./files/thumb_16593_a4f176b3a7387cda322b067306709b45)
- Mating
![Small Heath - wings ajar (5).JPG (2.05 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Wings ajar](./files/thumb_16593_58f29fee475292ba28f2a2de6ef36f8c)
- Wings ajar
And a video still of the upper wings.
![Small Heath - upper wings.BMP (2.37 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Video still of upper wings](./files/thumb_16593_52b0d3799ddcafb0562af98611fb15ff)
- Video still of upper wings
Next moving on to the Brown Argus.
![Brown Argus 86 (2).JPG (2.98 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Brown Argus on a log](./files/thumb_16593_2bbefd3efb5e16e79a6c7e350b73912e)
- Brown Argus on a log
![Brown Argus - underside 56.JPG (2.66 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Underside](./files/thumb_16593_9101b6b6aea0960295e0aad99725adff)
- Underside
![Brown Argus - male (9).JPG (2.13 MiB) Viewed 31161 times On Forget-me-not](./files/thumb_16593_ef515f74e81fd5f1fde17f5745254bfd)
- On Forget-me-not
![Brown Argus - female (5).JPG (3.37 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Amongst the scrub](./files/thumb_16593_4f71593e45c922e414e30140e877e1de)
- Amongst the scrub
![Brown Argus - male (8).JPG (4.16 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Dark and freshly emerged](./files/thumb_16593_4e706dfbd8bbabab92d6086dc88e62e6)
- Dark and freshly emerged
And finally the Common Blue.
![Common Blue - mating.JPG (2.08 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Mating](./files/thumb_16593_c1315e6a4a841443208b616992f1c20f)
- Mating
![Common Blue - female with blue wash (4).JPG (2.08 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Female with a Blue Rinse](./files/thumb_16593_d6d005c8e2d6d9d00b9acda035ad0667)
- Female with a Blue Rinse
![Common Blue - female 41 (5).JPG (2.35 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Underside](./files/thumb_16593_83b64f20e4f048d6d2467a6a128ca84c)
- Underside
Non-butterfly snapshot of the day.
Both hills have Skylarks but Magdalen Hill has protected areas where they nest. I think this may be a youngster just out of its nest because it was accompanied by an adult from time to time while I watched it.
![Skylark (4).jpg (2.18 MiB) Viewed 31161 times Skylark - possible youngster](./files/thumb_16593_cae18bd3f4af2d0ab8090a613095fd45)
- Skylark - possible youngster