Thanks Trevor, glad you liked them
Monday 4th May - May Day Bank Holiday
With today (Monday) looking to be the best day weather wise of the Bank Holiday weekend and with Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and Green Hairstreaks being reported from Warwickshire, I figured that a little run down the M40 to Bishops Hill was in order. It is possible to find all three of these species at this site but going on past experience I reckoned that I was most likely to see Dingy Skippers with a fair chance of a Grizzled Skipper or two. Green Hairstreaks can be a bit hit and miss at this site, I have seen the odd one or two here before but have also been here and not seen any, but hey ho…you never know.
With some early cloud clearing and the temperature reading 14 degrees in my car, I arrived just before 11.00 and started a slow circle around the area. Within minutes a bit of silvery movement caught my eye and I was surprised to see it turn into a nice fresh male Small Blue. This is usually a good site for these but I had not yet seen any reported from Warwickshire so I was not expecting to see any here yet, especially not that one would be the first butterfly that I would see here today. I just managed the one quick photo before it took off again and I lost sight of him,
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 001 resize.JPG (590.51 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_70bec7770f282570e98d822759253b97)
- Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
During the couple of hours or so that I spent here I saw a couple more Small Blues so they have obviously just started to emerge here. If they do as well this year as they have for the past couple of years then numbers should build nicely over the next few weeks.
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 131 resize.JPG (627.42 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_afa947bd27693b05c9a35a099f480124)
- Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 147 resize.JPG (554.94 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_becaf84dbe63bfe47edee63302a80024)
- Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 165 resize.JPG (551.34 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_d32cf8ed51ea434de199376e083e9c72)
- Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
As mentioned above I thought that I was most likely to see Dingy Skippers here and sure enough it was not long before I started to see some, with maybe a dozen or so seen in total during the time I was here. These really are an attractive little butterfly when nice and fresh and before they have faded and taken on that look that gives them their name,
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 011 resize.JPG (627.83 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_60d4fd9dba66d2cd1d3e9daef8c51d3a)
- Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 043 resize.JPG (581.29 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_b0cd7897312dd547de85c412737abde5)
- Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 156 resize.JPG (633.71 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_58ef5651accdd8fa7d50470b4fe850be)
- Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 181 resize.JPG (605.52 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_3c12c62f983d18c2f682cb39198f3c7a)
- Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 184 resize.JPG (585.92 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_76809418f80e2f330d9f764874f56913)
- Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
Before long I was also pleased to see my first 2015 Green Hairstreak, especially so as it perched fairly low down on a hawthorn so that I could get a few photos,
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 030 resize.JPG (576.01 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_4a7124f9c6575b97c20e078eec4ca935)
- Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 039 resize.JPG (569.22 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_f924397c58d900d93f425955a106532b)
- Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
Walking further up the hill I saw a number of Dingy Skippers and was watching what at first I thought was one of these chasing another when they flew past me and I got a flash of green from the one being chased. As they separated I watched where this one settled down in the grass and sneaking up, it proved to be another Green Hairstreak,
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 065 resize.JPG (587.86 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_0fa6f7379002e85ab0d9c8fc88059463)
- Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
I later saw another couple of male GHS ‘scrapping’ higher up above another hawthorn but these stayed well out of reach.
With three ‘first for year’ sightings I was already well chuffed when a little grey ‘blur’ flew in front of me and on settling resolved itself into a Grizzled Skipper,
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 075 resize.JPG (627.03 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_85104f655a6b315478bf30d7860bdfb6)
- Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
It took off again and I thought that I had lost sight of it when it returned and settled again just a few feet away from me,
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 086 resize.JPG (523.18 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_379af7aac481f3cf8baf207470ab052e)
- Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 113 resize.JPG (542.29 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_190ee4ce4fd42f8cebcb32c41065da16)
- Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
![Bishops Hill 04.05.2015 100 resize.JPG (512.35 KiB) Viewed 1001 times Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015](./files/thumb_10101_49ab48272f0d6379754197418db975e8)
- Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015
This turned out to be the only Grizzled Skipper that I saw here today. Other butterflies seen were a few each of Orange-tip, Brimstone, all three common whites and Holly blue, I am not sure of exact numbers of these as I never know if they are the same ones repeating a circuit. There was also a Peacock holding a territory at the bottom of the hill.
After a couple of hours here and with all three targets seen plus the unexpected Small Blues I still had a bit of time to spare so figured I would move on to Harbury which is just a five minute drive…
Bye for now,
Neil.