Pauline

[William]

That first Small Blue is exquisite, Pauline

BWs,

William

[bugboy]

Scorpion Flies do have a certain unique 'look' about them for sure! They are quite common amongst nettle beds, looking for dead insects or a spiders web to raid.

Also agree with others, thats first Small Blue is a stunner!

[Pauline]

Thank you Katrina - that was my favourite shot with the cliff in the background on a murky day.

I appreciate your comment Neil. It is not often that I admit to liking one of my own shots but I do like that one

I wish I had secrets to reveal Goldie , but I guess it's just practice .... and I've had plenty of practice looking for butterflies in the rain, I can tell you

Thank you William - that means a lot

I shall have to keep my eyes peeled Buggy whilst scanning the nettles. Thank you for your kind compliment.

I really think this should be in Mike's diary (Maximus) as he discovered a clutch of eggs at Noar Hill and there was some question as to what sort of eggs they were. As I am monitoring several sets of Duke eggs there I suggested to Mike that if he could explain to me where they were then I would keep an eye on them too, to try to solve the mystery. Well, Mike knows I have absolutely no sense of direction so I think it was quite amazing that he emailed me with extremely precise directions to a particular cowslip on Noar Hill - one of many thousands!!! .... and I found it in about 3 minutes!!!!! How did you do that Mike?? The latest check was early evening yesterday and although there was no change to any of the other sets of eggs 'Mike's' eggs had diminished in number and there seemed to be black spots in the centre of the remaining eggs.

I have read on this site that DoB eat their egg shells so perhaps some have hatched - I do hope so. I shall keep an eye on them. Regarding their position of the leaf I have found other eggs which have been laid quite centrally:

I shall be fascinated to follow their development to hopefully find out eventually what they are. I also made a quick check of the Brimstone cats who seem to be doing well:

[Maximus]

Hi Pauline, it's great that you are monitoring the eggs at Noar, I'm glad the directions were precise enough, lets hope they are Duke eggs
Lovely photos in your diary recently, and I have to agree with others' comments regarding the Small Blue shot - fabulous

Mike

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline, at last I saw some Butterflies, I thought I'd never find them Hope your eggs are Dukes and all goes well with them Goldie

[Pauline]

Thank you Mike. I shall continue to keep you informed.

Looks like you saw a great selection there Goldie - I have only seen 1 SC this season.

Well, we knew it was coming In fact, we have known for a long time But, seeing it start to happen was very depressing . I am referring to the landfill at Wrecclesham. I thought I'd nip up there as a change from Noar Hill. The first thing of note was a small fence around the entire site and about every 10 paces a piece of roofing felt had been placed next to a small plastic tub sunk into the ground - hundreds of them. Lifting a couple of these revealed several slow worms:

Then there were the goats - about 200 of them - they were everywhere Really cute especially the one who persisted in following me around

By now, naively, I was beginning to think/hope that there had been a change of plan and this lovely site was about to be put to a more appropriate use. Spotting a couple of folk checking the slow worms, I made my way over to them. They were from a company which has been employed over the next 2 months to catch up and relocate the slow worms, frogs and toads, following a site survey which had been carried out 2 years ago. The lake is to be mostly filled in! They seemed very sympathetic to the plight of the wildlife and confirmed that there were also bats and dormice on the site together with badgers, deer, foxes etc. We chatted briefly about the butterflies which are resident there.

Making my way across the site it was apparent that preparations for further work are underway:

I saw Green Hairstreaks, Orange Tip, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Dingy Skippers, Small White, Large White, Small Heath, Peacocks, many moths and some beautiful Demoiselles but by now my enthusiasm had disappeared and I could not be motivated to take many shots of them.

I couldn't help thinking what a waste (no pun intended!). I know it used to be a landfill site but we have few places that are as lovely as this, home to a diverse range of species, some of which are protected. I left feeling very heavy of heart

[Maximus]

Hi Pauline, your photos showing what's happening at Wrecclesham make me feel sad too. We knew it was inevitable, but hoped that it might not happen for some time. I spent many happy hours there, particularly when the Glanvilles were in residence, and it was a lovely place to be. That's exactly why I have made no visits in 2015, fearing I would find exactly what you have illustrated. At least we all had the best of it, and enjoyed it while we could and at least they are trying to save as much of the wildlife as is possible!

[Wurzel]

Stunning shut of the Beautiful Demoseille Pauline Sad time though with the demise of Wrecclesham - I only found out about it for the last year the Glannies were present but it was a cracking site

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Pauline
I never made it to Wrecclesham, but it looked and sounded like a great place I know what you mean about feeling depressed when the developers move in. One of my favourite local spots is set to disappear over the next few years when the new 'Wellbourne' housing development starts near Fareham. Nothing we can do about it, just have to make the most of it whilst it is there and pray that not too many more sites are lost. Even when they retain a 'green' area it tends to be an unnatural creation which might look aesthetically pleasing but only to the layman

[bugboy]

Such a shame about that site, I don't know much about it but it seems like it is/was a very nice place. We humans do have such a selfish way of treating our planet sometimes

It's not much of a consolation but the rescued Glanvilles seem to be going from strength to strength at their new site

[Goldie M]

So Sorry Pauline, Man can be so destructive Goldie

[Willrow]

Try not to let it get to you too much Pauline, sadly these things happen, we can only do our own little bit to help conserve what's left...conserve and enjoy what's left!

Kind Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[Pauline]

Thank you guys (and Goldie ) for your sympathetic comments. That site has provided many special wildlife encounters for me in the past, the memories of which I shall treasure, along with the photos, one of which I am enclosing below, where a Doe allowed me the privilege of watching her feed her Fawn:

Today I decided to visit MHD as I have not been there for quite a while and I hoped I would see something different. My first encounter was with the Small Blues which were plentiful. I have seen plenty Small Blues before but I have never witnessed them egg-laying. Several females were taking advantage of the sunshine - and the Kidney vetch - to do just that:

Once she had moved on I checked the flower head and saw a tiny white egg gleaming in the brilliant sun:

Having 'got my eye in' I looked at other plants and found that many of them contained a similar treasure. The breeze was so strong that I 'marked' one such plant by placing a stone at its base with the intention of returning when the wind dropped to try to get a better shot. However, at that point another enthusiast stopped to chat and I offered to show him the egg on the marked plant. I was surprised to find that in a very short space of time a second egg had been laid close to the first:

It was not until I was uploading these photos that I realised that one of the shots contained both egg and larva

I stayed a while longer to enjoy the spectacle, noticing that the usual perils and predators were ever present:

It was time to tear myself away from the Small Blues but one individual decided my legs were irresistible . He persisted in drinking in the sweat from behind my knees and despite my efforts to shake him off he landed on my socks and then my trainers, before making his way back up my leg. At one point he was in danger of disappearing up my shorts so I thought a record shot was in order, even if it was a difficult angle to reach:

I eventually managed to shake him off and set off to explore the rest of the site.

[trevor]

HI Pauline,
I've just been reading about your wonderful day with the Small Blues. Top class images too !
You refer to one taking a liking to your perspiration ( ladies don't sweat ). If you look at my
diary you will see them on my old shoes. Six of them chased me , three landing on my shoe
when i stopped !.

Best wishes,
TREVOR.

[Maximus]

Really lovely Small Blue photos Pauline and you also got those brilliant images of the ovipositing females, plus the shots of the eggs too

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pauline,

Sorry to read about Wrecclesham, it is/was not a site I am familiar with apart from reading about it in your, and others, diaries. An unfortunate fact these days that a lot of good sites get developed one way or another.

On a brighter note, I love the photo of the Doe with her Fawn and an excellent series of Small Blue images of the ovipositing females and the eggs

Cheers,

Neil

[Mark Tutton]

Hi Pauline
Was that Small Blue in the fourth to last photo ovipositing did you see an egg?? The plant looks like something like Chalk Milkwort not Kidney Vetch - very interesting if it was, as as far as I am aware the SB is completely reliant on Kidney Vetch. Perhaps it just made a mistake
Kind Regards
Mark

[MrSp0ck]

Such a shame about that site, I don't know much about it but it seems like it is/was a very nice place. We humans do have such a selfish way of treating our planet sometimes

It's not much of a consolation but the rescued Glanvilles seem to be going from strength to strength at their new site

Their New site is a Nature Reserve so should be a lot more secure for them too. With a Glanville Species Champion nearby, and management for disturbed habitat, scrapes that suits them.

[David M]

Excellent sequence, Pauline.

I'm particularly interested by the specimen with the distinct lack of underside spots. That's highly unusual.

[kevling]

Pauline,

I add my compliments too on your Small Blue photos, simply stunning!

Regards Kev