We made a last minute decision to take a drive down to Butser Hill today. We usually visit this site at around this date hoping to see our first Grizzled and Dingy Skippers of the year. Weather conditions were good, plenty of sunshine with a bearable North Easterly breeze. As we walked up to Rake an assortment of butterflies were seen. Comma, Peacocks, Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshells, Orange-tips and a Male Holly Blue. A Roe Deer watched us from high on the hillside, bluebells lined the path and Blackcaps sung from hawthorn thickets, it was a lovely spring morning. Passing through the gate we almost immediatly spotted several Grizzled Skippers taking nourishment from a dog turd. A little further up the path there were plenty of Grizzled Skippers which we managed some photos of, along with several Dingy Skippers.
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Continuing up through the site Grizzled Skippers were by far the most common species with only a few Dingy Skippers seen. We saw four Duke of Burgundy but only managed a record shot of one female.
We also saw a single Green Hairstreak further up the slope, our first of the year, and managed a couple of photos.
During our visit a Cuckoo was constantly calling from the hillside, our first of 2015, very nice that they're back again! We spent several hours walking the site and later managed to get some roosting shots when the sun was obscured by light cloud.
A fantastic day out in stunning surroundings, with many beautiful butterflies seen, exactly what it's all about
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)