Pauline

[David M]

That's lovely to see, Pauline.

A reminder, if one were needed, that butterfly activity isn't just restricted to the adult form.

[Katrina]

Great work again. I like the hibernaculum from above shot - shows how hard it would be to spot.

[Pauline]

I don't think they are a very attractive larva David but they are incredibly interesting - and it's good to learn something new

Thank you Katrina - you'd never find it if you didn't know, would you? It's only because I watched a few eggs being laid that I've been able to do this.

Yesterday, we risked a fun trip out to OWH in drizzle and under black skies, but like magic the sun appeared and thousands of butterflies along with it. I was totally absorbed by the SSS, despite the carpet of Chalkhills, a few Adonis, Painted Ladies and all the others one might expect. A few shots of my favourite Skipper:

I have only seen SSS mating twice in the past so it was interesting to watch the courtship over some 30 mins and the eventual pairing. Naturally, I took the opportunity to photograph them from every possible angle! :

It would be remiss of me not to include a few of the other species. After 4 pairs of Chalkhills I stopped counting and this Small Skipper had definitely seen better days:

[Pauline]

How can the management of a nature reserve be considered appropriate and effective if it results in the eradication of one of its most iconic butterflies - because I believe that is what is happening. Is it carelessness? ignorance? apathy? If someone set out to deliberately destroy the Brown Hairstreaks at Noar Hill there would be an outcry but many eggs here have been burnt, pupa have been destroyed and the handful that might have escaped are now being finished off. A really good job if the intention was to wipe out the BH. I am outraged. Too easily pacified by explanations of contractors carrying out work insensitively (why then aren't they being supervised?) and promises of updating maps to safeguard young Blackthorn. I have lost count of the number of hours I have spent in the last couple of weeks searching this site for Brown Hairstreaks and eggs. It was a delight to finally find one female and a joy as I watched her (undisturbed) delve into one blackthorn thicket after another. I resolved to go back and check for eggs. I finally got round to that today and this is what I found. All that young blackthorn where she was egg-laying has been cut down and destroyed. I doubt I shall return and feel very let down after my recent meeting with the reserve's manager, whom I shall email when I have calmed down sufficiently.

Soul destroying! Someone should be held accountable.

[Wurzel]

Fantastic Silver-spots Pauline I don't knwo what to think about the scene of destruction presented in your most recent post There were similar sights at Cotley when a contractor went a bit slap-happy with the strimmer but the Marshies seemed to do okay...though this will have hit next seasons progeny hard Have they done it specifically for the Dukes and the Borstreaks are unfortunate casualties?

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

The timing of that carnage at Noar Hill couldn't really be much worse, Pauline.

At the BH site in Pembrokeshire they DO successionally cut some of the blackthorn to allow new growth, but they do this in late July prior to the females emerging. It goes without saying that to decimate the young blackthorn suckers when the egg-laying females are in full swing is the very definition of stupidity!

Have they done this to large swathes of the site or just a few small areas?

[Pauline]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the SSS Wurzel. Would you by any chance happen to know who manages the county boundary hedge and surrounding lanes in SB and whether any special consideration is given to the BH. Intended to contact Tidworth council today but closed this afternoon.

I really don't understand it David but I would like some explanation. It is fairly large swathes and unfortunately the areas were those which BH favoured when egg-laying. It is small blackthorn and wild flowers which are being destroyed. The dogwood in this area wasn't high either and was on a bank by the gate which no-one ever walks along. I don't think it matters much now as there must be so few BH remaining (after burning loads of the eggs from last year then scraping up any pupa just prior to emergence). I believe Noar Hill was unique, perhaps being the only site where both BH and Dukes were firmly established. This is the last I'll say here as I don't think it is the right forum but I do intend to pursue it further. Today I wanted to get far, far away from Noar Hill. As far as I possibly could in the time available to me. I had never been to Browndown North before and hadn't seen Grayling for a couple of year so that was the decision made.

I forgot all my troubles for a short while, whilst watching a female egg-laying. I always have this dilemma - do I try for an action shot and risk disturbing her, or just watch and photograph the egg afterwards. I chose the latter. If you are reading this Allan, this must have been the hardest egg I have ever photographed (without a tripod) but by no means the smallest. I lost count of how many attempts it took to get something in focus. The light just seemed to bounce off it and all I got was a white blur! I tried changing positions (I started by squatting down and ended up lying flat on the ground), I adjusted the exposure compensation, I changed how much I zoomed in etc etc. At last I ended up with something that is recognisable as an egg. If you view the larger version you can even see the grooves down it:

and this is the female that produced it together with a few more Grayling:

There are quite a few small furry animals on this site but they were just too quick for me to get a proper look. The first one was black and the second sandy coloured as they scurried into the heather, really small and fast - perhaps a vole or shrew?

[Neil Freeman]

Great photos again recently Pauline

I assume by OWH you mean Old Winchester Hill. That is on my radar for when I am down that way the week after next.

It's a shame about Noar Hill, I was also thinking about there but not sure if it is worth bothering with now.

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

I really don't understand it David but I would like some explanation. It is fairly large swathes and unfortunately the areas were those which BH favoured when egg-laying. It is small blackthorn and wild flowers which are being destroyed. The dogwood in this area wasn't high either and was on a bank by the gate which no-one ever walks along. I don't think it matters much now as there must be so few BH remaining (after burning loads of the eggs from last year then scraping up any pupa just prior to emergence). I believe Noar Hill was unique, perhaps being the only site where both BH and Dukes were firmly established. This is the last I'll say here as I don't think it is the right forum but I do intend to pursue it further.

Which organisation is responsible for the management of the site, Pauline?

There can't be that many competing interests that one of the UK's rarest butterflies can effectively have its habitat disregarded in such a way.

[Pauline]

Thank you Neil. You will have my pm.

Thank you for your interest David. PM on its way to you too

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Pauline. I have replied to your PM.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Pauline]

I'll be in touch Neil.

Today it was back to OWH with the aim of getting some half decent shots of an Adonis blue. I was not expecting to find one in a juniper tree and I was not expecting it to be brand new, but as I watched it expelled the maconium. Needless to say I took full advantage and even tho' I had to wait 40 mins for a bit of sun to see his wings open, it was well worth it:

I had also hoped to see a SSS egg-laying and although I watched several females it just wasn't happening. This was the best I could do:

and several Painted Ladies on the way back to the car park:

[Allan.W.]

just catching up with your posts Pauline ................and the Grayling egg ..........excellent ! i,ve been experimenting
taking close ups (as best I can !) of my Red Admirals constructing their tents ,with the caterpillars ,like you ,i have lord knows how many "goes"
before i get one somewhere near in focus ....................Brilliant Adonis shots too by the way !
Regards Allan.W.

[bugboy]

I'm gonna risk being devils advocate here but it is a genuine query with regard to the current situation at Noar Hill. I've never visited the site so can't comment from that standpoint however, looking at it on Google maps it looks like its connected to Ashford Hangers Nature Reserve to the south by corridors of woodland/scrub/hedgrows? How widespread are the Hairstreaks known to be found in the surrounding environment? If they are found further afield then surely Noar Hill is just a small population of a much larger metapopulation and so the management/destruction seen at Noar Hill won't have much of an effect in the wider population as a whole. As I'm sure you know, habitat management only really works when done on a large scale, creating a mosaic of habitats and microhabitats, to avoid isolating populations and encouraging species to move around to prevent inbreeding.

[Pauline]

Morning Paul - I have already stated that I do not want to discuss this further on a public forum so if you want to know the detail of what is happening and the eventual outcome then please pm me. I'm sure you will have seen this if you googled Noar Hill, which unlike Ashford Hangers, has been designated as a SSSI. The reason Natural England awarded that citation was:

The site is of national importance for both butterflies and grasshoppers (Orthoptera), and also
supports a variety of other long grass and scrub edge invertebrate species. Forty species of
butterfly have been recorded since 1975. There are important colonies of the nationally
declining Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina and brown hairstreak Theca betulae (in each case
probably the strongest remaining colonies in Hampshire), small blue Cupido minimus, green
hairstreak Callophrys rubi, marbled white Melanargia galathea, and dingy skipper Erynnis
tages. Eleven species of Orthoptera (1980) is also exceptionally high, including the rare rufous
grasshopper Gamphocerripus rufus and Stenobothrus lineatus.

I'm sure you already know such citation is dependent on adherence to some fairly comprehensive restrictions - a bit like a listed building

[Pauline]

Years ago I was told that Chapel Common was a good site for SSB but despite being on my doorstep I never visited Until yesterday. I decided to check it out in case there were any Grayling there. It is so gorgeous at the moment:

and usually quite deserted I'm told

I didn't find any Grayling but I did find a colony of Sand Wasps (Red-banded) which I had never seen before and spent quite a little time watching their complex activities. The amount and size of debris they were moving around was astonishing. On looking them up (what did we ever do without google??!!) this is what I found:

[i]Normally, a female digs a short burrow, ending in a horizontal cell, in bare or sparsely vegetated sand. Later, she temporarily closes the nest entrance using sand and tiny stones, then hunts for lepidopteran caterpillars in vegetation. About half of all cells are provisioned with just one large caterpillar, which is carried back on foot as it is sometimes more than ten times as heavy as the wasp. Other cells are provisioned with two to five smaller caterpillars. An egg is laid on the first caterpillar provisioned and rarely hatches before permanent closure of the nest burrow. After the last caterpillar has been interred the wasp permanently closes the burrow with a much deeper plug of sand, and camouflages the entrance with debris so that it is invisible to the human eye. All nests are unicellular. The whole nesting cycle, from searching for a digging site to closing the nest permanently after provisioning, takes an average of eight to ten hours of activity. Marked females each dug and provisioned up to ten nests during a summer.[/i]

A Small Heath joined in watching their activity:

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of Grayling and Adonis images Pauline Love the last Small Heath as well and the land at Chapel Common looks fantastic
I've looked into who owns the land around Shipton Bellinger but without shelling out for Land Registry checks the best I could come up with is that it's in the Test Valley District Council but I also have a feeling that the main hedge is Crown Estate I did see something on Instagram about Noar Hill and them having to do clearance because of Ash Dieback

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Morning Wurzel - thanks for doing that. I have spent about 4 hours phoning many places in both Wiltshire and Hants, including parish councils, roads and transport, countryside team, bio-diversity team etc etc all without success. I was told it fell within Test Valley and I'm still waiting for a few return emails and phone calls but I find it incredible that no-one seems to know who owns or manages it. The best I could get from one of them was it is not cut very often!

Yes, I saw on facebook that 40 Ash were being felled and 5 new scrapes are being created - both of which will probably benefit the site. I am not against the work being carried out - just the timing and the impact it has had on 2 of the immature stages of one of their most precious inhabitants. I went there yesterday afternoon and some areas were teeming with butterflies including several fresh Painted Ladies (which I love), but sadly no Hairstreaks. A few from NH:

[Pauline]

A few shots of females I watched egg-laying today, sadly not at Noar Hill:

Several Hornet Robber flies around including this one which had just caught a grasshopper. Awesome beasts:

[millerd]

Lovely female Brown Hairstreak, Pauline - you are certainly making up for not seeing them at your usual site.

That Painted Lady is an absolute stunner, too. Aside from being gloriously bright and new, it has prominent blue centres to some of the hindwing spots - which I'm sure is a named variety. for that I'd say.

Cheers,

Dave