Saturday 25th August 2018 - Good and bad....
Last time I visited the Brown Hairstreak site in Pembrokeshire 9 days ago, I was alarmed by the low numbers of butterflies generally. That continued today, although whilst some species have become even scarcer, others bucked that trend.
Meadow Browns have gone, whilst Hedge Browns were practically absent, with just two seen (one faded female and one washed-out male). Common Blues look on their last legs although there were still two dozen or so about.
Worryingly, I saw just one Small Tortoiseshell (they seem to be having an appalling late summer) whilst there were no Red Admirals at all!
Four Painted Ladies were seen, all of them on the sea asters by the high tide line:
Just one Comma was encountered, although it was in impeccable condition:
On the plus side, Speckled Wood numbers have risen appreciably with several fresh looking specimens seen:
Small Whites were plentiful too, with 30+ around:
Just two male Large Whites, including this one nectaring on buddleia:
On the same buddleia was this extremely bedraggled Silver Washed Fritillary. I saw six in total, all males, which was a surprise as I hadn’t even anticipated seeing late females:
Small Coppers seem to have had a fresh emergence, with seven seen, including this one which just about qualifies for a blue badge:
Better still though was when I stumbled upon this mating pair:
This act of coupling lasted well over half an hour and was occasionally interrupted by a third Small Copper trying to get in on the act.
As far as Brown Hairstreaks are concerned, it was a decent day, with 6 seen in total. Surprisingly, two of these were elderly males, both of which were settled low on vegetation. I’d only hitherto seen one male below head height at this site in 9 years visiting here (usually, they remain ensconced in the ash trees), so it was quite a shock to observe two within an hour of each other:
Four females were spotted. This is the first one and also the one that was in best condition:
Here’s one of the others:
Apart from the two eggs I saw being laid, I couldn’t locate any in spite of a good deal of searching. I don’t know whether that’s indicative of a poor season or whether the females haven’t got going in earnest yet. If I can get down here again in September I’ll have another go and form my own conclusion.
I rarely see Small Coppers tho' so the chance of one of them being an ab seems quite remote. I'm quite envious of that Wall Brown too - it's been years since I saw one. Must try to put that right before too long.
Nice Small Coppers as well. 
