Wolfson wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:02 am
The Small Blue is a real favourite of mine and its apparent spread into East Anglia is great news. My usual encounters are at Totternhoe but this year I was a little early and only had a glimpse of one flying. Fortunately, fellow enthusiast Millerd, kindly offered to take me to a nearby, hopefully earlier site. He was spot on and we were rewarded with plenty of Small Blues including a scene similar to Bugboy's. They were also very "friendly" to the point of interfering with photography. A great day, thank you Dave.
Cheers, Wolfson - your post brought back memories of a terrific day. Those Small Blues were settling everywhere, and as your shot shows, they made photographing the others very tricky! Sitting on the shutter button like that is about as awkward as it gets. This is what I was trying to get a view of...
This was Pitstone: I also visited a site nearby for the first time - this was the Bird Reserve at College Lake which nonetheless has a great assortment of butterflies, including a healthy population of Small Blues.
As Mr Sp0ck has mentioned, Hutchinsons Bank was also awash with them, and they would fly up in clouds when disturbed. Other than the concentrations settled on noxious substances, it was difficult to do the numbers full justice in one photo. However, here is an attempt with (I believe) 13 individuals settled on the foliage and many more just out of shot.
Dave