Thanks for the ID, Jenks, much appreciated
They certainly are, David, nothing common about them
Cheers Dave
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
and I agree with you, they are very underrated!
Thanks Pauline
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I've never seen a Dragonfly with a butterfly before. I've a feeling that should you see see this yourself, you would do ok with the shot
Cheers Wurzel
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
definitely not common, Ghost Blue sounds great
Old Winchester Hill - First visit, 16th August 2014
Having not yet paid a visit to Old Winchester Hill during 2014, we decided to put this right and have a look for second brood Adonis Blues and Silver-spotted Skippers. This site is a late site for SSSkipper, so we hoped that we might find some in good condition. One of the problems at this site is that it is very exposed to the wind, which hit us as we walked out of the shelter of the car park and onto the open down. I have long wanted to get a decent shot of a SSSkipper perched on the top of a Field Scabious, but this was going to be a tricky task today! In spite of the wind there were plenty of butterfly species on the wing, and the first we saw was a Painted Lady with a small nick in her hind wing, nectaring on wild Marjoram..
..followed by a Red Admiral, battle scarred but with an extra white spot in the orange band..
![P1150635.JPGResize.JPG (873.34 KiB) Viewed 390 times Smessex Skipper in good nick](./files/thumb_11970_f8c73555f44cdad913844d00dbfeff8d)
- Smessex Skipper in good nick
![P1150575.JPGResize.JPG (961.01 KiB) Viewed 390 times Brimstones were everywhere, both Male and Female](./files/thumb_11970_cf20db27d073115057091641092e3802)
- Brimstones were everywhere, both Male and Female
![P1150363.JPGResize.JPG (906.29 KiB) Viewed 390 times Worn SSSkipper with a worn Smessex in the background](./files/thumb_11970_d4e839270746c238158d30e85b25e06a)
- Worn SSSkipper with a worn Smessex in the background
![P1150372.JPGResize.JPG (1.33 MiB) Viewed 390 times Best conditioned SSSkipper we saw during our visit](./files/thumb_11970_38dd926800b26717e388acd9d644d51c)
- Best conditioned SSSkipper we saw during our visit
Then there were the Blues..
![P1150353.JPGResize.JPG (921 KiB) Viewed 390 times Male Chalkhill Blue in very good shape](./files/thumb_11970_65afa62b3285a350ea53ca2088b0f4d4)
- Male Chalkhill Blue in very good shape
![P1150607.JPGResize.JPG (961.15 KiB) Viewed 390 times A very bright male Common Blue](./files/thumb_11970_05cdaf49495cdb52680fc789d04f60d9)
- A very bright male Common Blue
![P1150626.JPGResize.JPG (1.1 MiB) Viewed 390 times Female Common Blue](./files/thumb_11970_cfe1deea6439bc61291d1940c567b257)
- Female Common Blue
at last, right under my feet, was a male Adonis Blue, the only one we saw..
![P1150631.JPGResize.JPG (1.03 MiB) Viewed 390 times Adonis Blue](./files/thumb_11970_0cf7072f350c1b707da6826c2c8927cf)
- Adonis Blue
This Adonis Blue male looked freshly emerged, so we decided we would have to make a return visit soon, as the wind had kept the SSSkippers down in the grass and more Adonis Blues would probably emerge
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)