Thanks, Trevor - the Coppers do indeed look particularly bright on the heather! I may try tomorrow for the Cloudies, and take in Mill Hill again as well, as my sources tell me third brood Walls are appearing up there too...
Cheers, Wurzel - didn't even expect to see them, but then they are having a good year everywhere (except Dungeness so far...
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
) Fingers crossed for a few Cloudies - you haven't heard any whispers from Southbourne this year have you?
Thank you, David.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Your dearth of Brown Argus certainly isn't mirrored in the spots I've visited - in fact they are popping up in unexpected places as well as persisting in good numbers on my local patch (though to be fair most are getting a bit tired now).
4th September (continued):
At Fairmile, I was halfway down to Denbies, so another trip there seemed a good idea. To be fair it was very similar to the last one, only with fewer butterflies. There were still some Brown Argus around, a few Small Heath over the middle part of the hillside, and a single female Silver-spotted Skipper still searching out egg-laying spots.
Chalkhill Blues had almost disappeared, and this was perhaps the best example.
Male Adonis were more frequent, but no longer in the numbers they had been not so long ago.
Females, however, were around in higher numbers than the males, and some were fresh.
One was similar to the dark one I had seen a few days before, with perhaps more blue scales and less intense a ground colour. It was quite content to wander onto my hand and open up before hopping down and basking more conventionally.
Dave