Saturday 22nd May 2010 (Lycaenid Heaven!)
What a glorious day. Another life tick for me and more Blues, Coppers and Hairstreaks than you could shake a stick at!
Today was really all about the blues. My target was the Small Blue which I’d never seen. I picked three locations, Swyncombe Downs, Oxfordshire (SU666914), Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire (SU730966) and Yoesden Bank, Buckinghamshire (SU789980) because they all supposedly had Small Blue, they weren’t too far from home and I could do all three in one day. Yoesden Bank also had the possibility of Adonis but I didn’t see any. I only saw the one Small Blue in the end but at least I did see one!
Driving up the M40 I noticed 2 pairs of Buzzards and as I got to the Chilterns, as usual, Red Kites were soaring above the motorway cutting.
I drove through Watlington and there must have been a Red Kite feeding station as there were about 25 circling and swooping down behind the houses. Must be quite a sight for people living there! More Red Kites later.
Swyncombe Downs 10.30 – 13.00 (SU666914)
What a fantastic location, wonderful views and a good mix of downland, scrub and woodland. It was baking hot too.
Just through the gate and I could see Common Blues and Brown Argus in abundance. I spent a good while walking the downland and investigated every Brown Argus I could just to make sure until after about 2 hours I found a Small Blue! As it turns out, the Brown Argus is quite silvery in flight while the Small Blue was noticeably more violet in hue, so I presume it was a male. I only saw this one in the end during the whole day.
Here he is in a rather poor photo to prove I saw him:
The Common Blues and Brown Argus were my first of the year and I also saw my first Small Coppers.
At the end of downland footpath there is some scrub in a cutting and I noticed a Green Hairstreak which I observed for about 20 minutes going back and forth between about 4 perches. I was particularly pleased to find this one as I hadn’t found one myself in the past but it turned out to be 1 of 8 I saw.
The Green Hairstreaks were in good numbers and on the walk back I edged the scrub and found a few more. They were also to be found on the ground too. At one point I was taking Captain Oates’ advice and sitting down taking the location in as another Green Hairstreak, several Common Blues, several Brown Argus, a Small Copper and a Small Heath were dancing around my feet! Magical.
The Common Blues were mainly male (100+) and were very flighty and not easy to photograph. (The two shots on today’s post were the best I could do with the hundreds of males I saw today
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
). I only saw 2 females at Swyncombe and I would imagine as the males are pretty fresh out they only have one thing on their mind.
One of the two females I did see here seemed to have orange lunules on one forewing and white lunules on the other, which looked a bit odd:
Sightings for Swyncombe Downs:
Small Blue (male) x1 (my first ever!)
Common Blue (male) x 100+, (female) x 2 (first of the year)
Brown Argus x 100+ (first of the year)
Small Copper x 20+ (first of the year)
Green Hairstreak x 8
Small Heath x 10+
Speckled Wood x 3
Orange Tip (male) x 1
Brimstone (male) x 5, (female) x 13
Large White x 2
Small or Green Veined White x 6
Dingy Skipper x 1
Cinnabar x 2
Mother Shipton x 4
Red Kites over head
I also saw these charming little green beetles and this fearsome looking hornet which was a good 2 inches long
Aston Rowant NNR 14.00 – 15.30 (SU730966)
I didn’t realise but it was here that the Red Kite was re-introduced with 93 birds released and now numbering over 300. Certainly explains why it’s here I always see them on the M40! Aston Rowant is perhaps understandably one of the best places to see them up close. I switched lenses to a 300mm zoom because of the kites and I’m quite glad I did:
It took a while to see any butterflies at Aston Rowant but there are sheep there keeping the turf very short. I did find some further down the bank eventually.
Sightings for Aston Rowant NNR:
Common Blue (male) x 30+, (female) x 1
Brown Argus x 30+
Small Copper x 1
Small Tortoiseshell x 1
Comma x 1
Small Heath x 7
Brimstone (male) x 2, (female) x 1
Small or Green Veined White x 4
Dingy Skipper x 2
Mother Shipton x 1
Yoesden Bank 16.00 – 17.30 (SU789980)
Parking at St Mary’s Church I made my way across the fields and up towards the wood. To the right of the wood is a small clearing and area of scrub which had Common Blues and a good colony of Dingy Skipper. Through the wood I saw a fresh looking Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and a Holly Blue.
The bank to the left and below the wood though is a lovely area of fairly long sward. Lots to see in both locations:
Common Blue (male) x 50+, (female) x 2
Holly Blue x 3
Green Hairstreak x 2
Red Admiral x 1
Comma x 1
Peacock x 5
Small Heath x 1
Speckled Wood x 1
Orange Tip (male) x 7, (female) x 1
Large White x 5
Small or Green Veined White x 8
Brimstone (male) x 2, (female) x 1
Dingy Skipper x 25+
Cinnabar x 1
Burnet Companion x 5
Brimstone (moth) x 1
So assuming I saw both Small and Green Veined Whites, I had a quite a day today – 17 species, 1 life tick, 3 firsts for the year and a full house of post hibernators!