These seemed to be very new butterflies, Wurzel - deep shiny blue enhanced by it being mostly cloudy. The heath here is different from the other sites in that there is a lot of bell heather, and the cross-leaved heath flowers a bit later and seemed to have mostly escaped the frost. Consequently, the SSB are synchronised with the flowers and were not lacking in nectar opportunities.
Thank you, Katrina - it is a great combination!
Tuesday 16th June. Another fine morning with thundery showers threatened later. However, the forecasts seemed to show that the eastern side of southern England might escape those downpours, so I took the opportunity to drive over to Essex for a couple of targets. I knew it might be a bit early for larger numbers of White-letter Hairstreaks at Hadleigh, but I also knew the Heath Fritillaries had been out in various spots for a while, and didn't want to miss them.
I parked at Leigh-on-Sea station (deserted!) and walked all along the bottom path on the southern edge of Hadleigh Country Park. Scrubby hedgerow elms line a fair bit of this path, with convenient brambles flowering underneath them. There are also lots of grassland areas with flowers. I saw a good variety of species. As I've noticed before, Holly Blues here are some weeks behind my local population and I saw about a dozen on and around the brambles which they clearly use as a foodplant.
There were several new Commas, including this rather dark one.
The grassy areas hosted good numbers of fresh Marbled Whites...
...and I also found a Ringlet skulking in the grass under the brambles.
I spent a lot of time following skippers to try and establish positive identification of Essex Skippers, but to start with, all were Small.
Patience paid off in the end, and I found what I was looking for.
Interestingly, the Essex were easier to approach than the Small - if I'd known that earlier, I wouldn't have chased quite so many...
However, the main target was the White-letters. I saw the first ones not far from the station, but they were squabbling high up, and there were only three or four.
Others appeared later on, but as so often happens, at awkward angles to the light.
In the end, while I was actually trying to get a shot of a Marbled White on the brambles, a female Hairstreak came and plonked itself right next to me in a near-perfect position.
Sometimes luck can be firmly on your side!
Dave