![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
However, I've skipped an episode. First thing on Thursday 28th May, I set off for Fairmile Common, just off the road between Cobham and Esher. Knowing they had been seen elsewhere, I hoped to see some fresh Silver-studded Blues. As I rather expected, the site looked very dry and bare, but there was an extra element - though there was a good spread of various heathers throughout the common, virtually none of it was in flower. All the flowers seemed to have been crisped - brown instead of pink and purple. I have subsequently been told that the late frosts at the start of May were to blame, enough to wipe out the majority of the early flowers. Though they will certainly bloom again, this may be after the rather early flight period of the SSBs this year, and their prime nectar source will therefore not be available. I believe that a number of SSB sites (being sandy soils and prone to frosts) have been similarly affected - which is hugely worrying.
I did see the butterflies, perhaps a dozen males and a single female. They were indeed searching high and low for any flowers they could find, resorting to alternatives like the stonecrops that grow here, and some of the brambles that have come into bloom. Here's one on stonecrop. They were all very fresh and new, and were no doubt still emerging across the site. I found one still attended by an ant or two. A selection of the others: Dave