LONG TAILED BLUES!
As we have seen,Long-tailed Blues at Kinsdown,near Dover,and probably at other places as well. With a fine day forecast on Weds 25 Sept,how could i resist the opportunity to witness this perhaps once in a lifetime event?
Driving through the fog,i arrived 9.30am and,thanks to excellent directions from Neil (sussex kipper),soon found my way to the site Several other people soon arrived,and it didn't take long to track down a couple of males-my first ever LTB!,at the southern end of the Leas.
More people were arriving to see this remarkable event-most,if not all,were successful.
We then walked to the northern end where one,possibly two,further males,were found by Rosalyn,one showed well for several minutes. Having several people searching was a definate advantage. Perhaps surprisingly,they were in the grass,not on the broad-leaf everlasting peas. We spent lunchtime at this north end,then headed back to the south section,which seemed to have greater numbers. Here,we eventually found two Adonis Blues chasing another blue which,when settled,turned out to be a nice fresh female LTB,our first of the day! This was fantastic-what a find! I was happy before,and now this!
We quickly grabbed our cameras and took a multitude of pictures but,in the event,she hung around for the rest of this warm,still hazy day. She tended to settle on dead knapweed heads,only occasionaly visiting flowers. Sometimes she would take flight,but always turned back when she got to the cliffs,eventually going to roost in the long grass.
Meanwhile,another gentleman reported anothed male further south toward St Margarets so,between us,we can account for at least five,4 male 1 female. Also during the day,we saw Brimstone,Small and Large Whites,Small Coppers,Common,Chalkhill and Adonis Blues,Brown Argus,Red Admiral and Speckled Woods. What a day!!!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)