Thank you all - looking back through the sunlit spring photos is very therapeutic as we approach the shortest day...
LATE MAY
As Wurzel guessed, it was time for one of the high points of the year for me, the excursion down to that increasingly well-known hill not far from Warminster in Wiltshire. I beieve several of the adjoining chalk hills are also blessed with strong and varied butterfly populations, but this is the one that has become the place to which pilgrimages are undertaken. Last year I saw Trevor and Katrina here; this year on 19th I had arranged to meet Wurzel and Philzoid, and once there I also bumped into Lee Hurrell.
The hill didn't disappoint: it started quite chilly, and initially only Grizzlies, that most hardy of spring species, were in evidence.
However, they were soon joined by Dingies, Green Hairstreaks, Small Heaths, Brown Argus...
...and a few Small and Adonis Blues...
...but it was after 10 before the stars appeared - the Marsh Fritillaries. The sunshine made them quite active, but at least a few coud be persuaded to pose.
I was also pleased to see a handful of Wall Browns along the bottom of the hillside, including one that hung around in the shade along the path back down to the car.
The final point of interest was the largest Orange Tip any of us had seen - but it refused to stop to allow its stature to be recorded for posterity.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Another great day out.
On 20th, I founds Adonis numbers were growing down at Denbies, but the trip was spoiled somewhat by the encroachment of a group of travellers onto Steers Field. I decided to carry on across the Mole Valley and visited Juniper Bottom, part of the huge Box Hill estate, somewhere I hadn't been for a few years. The highlight here was a group of newly emerged male Common Blues, along with a few Grizzlies and Dingies.
I should include this on my spring itinerary more often.
The 21st saw a trip to Aston Rowant, but no Adonis had appeared here yet. I returned to my local patch late in the day to find the first Common Blues and Brown Argus had emerged - lovely new butterflies.
Over the next few days here, the numbers of both built to a peak on 30th - curiously a day with almost no sunshine.
I returned to Bookham Commons on 22nd, mainly to look for Small Coppers. I wasn't disappointed in this respect...
...but the highpoint at Banks Common was seeing around half a dozen Dingy Skippers.
![DS1 220518.JPG (3.68 MiB) Viewed 2691 times On the blackthorn where the Brown Hairstreaks pose in August](./files/thumb_9839_e4c2daf3c886579acce888c63c366174)
- On the blackthorn where the Brown Hairstreaks pose in August
The meadow here is full of trefoil, but Dingies are not a species I'd seen here before, and the Surrey record keepers have taken an interest.
The pace picked up a bit again, and I had two more days out in quick succession. First up on 25th was the Eastern Clearing at Bentley Wood where the immediate surprise was the first butterfly to appear: a Marsh Fritillary. I had never seen one here in many years of visits.
Pearl-bordered appeared as well in the brief sunny interludes.
The following day, the weather promised better, and I put myself in the care of TfL for the day and headed for Hutchinsons Bank, and the outside chance of a Glanville Fritillary. All there was at the end of the day was a maybe moment (my money was on a Painted Lady, but the onsite local view from MrSp0ck was more towards the fritillary). Nevertheless, this site is always worth a visit for the sheer numbers of Small Blues, plus many other chalk downland species.
My highlights were this puddling trio: two Smalls of differing sizes and a Holly...
...and my first Large Skipper of 2018.
On 28th I was at Box Hill again, where very good numbers of Adonis were now flying.
There were also plenty of Common Blues, including this female ab, paired with a normal male.
I then stayed local for the end of the month, seeing my first Large Skipper here on 30th...
and my last Orange Tip of the year on 31st (quite an early finish). By the end of the month Common Blues and Brown Argus were, as mentioned earlier, really doing well, and amongst the blues were some striking females.
Finally, on 31st, I popped along to Harmondsworth Moor again - there wasn't a great deal flying in comparison to previous years, but I did find a female Brown Argus egg-laying, and defying accepted wisdom by depositing the egg on the top of the leaf...
Not to be outdone, later the same day the Holly Blues on my local patch were also egg-laying.
Quite a month! But then June would be rather similar...
Dave