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Hiked from Tucking Mill to Hazelbury Common on Saturday, via Dundas Aquaduct, Warleigh Wood/Inwood, Monkton Farleigh, and Kingsdown.

Started at Tucking Mill around 11ish. Saw Grizzled Skippers and Dingy Skippers - the large numbers of Pyrausta moths were easy to confuse for Grizzled Skippers from a distance.
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Stopped for a sandwich lunch near Inwood. Lots of whites (small, large and green-veined), orange tips, a common blue and this small copper:


Then across the countryside to Hazelbury. Peacocks, Red Admiral, Tortoiseshell and Speckled wood seen en route.

Got to Hazelbury around 3.15. Lots of Marsh Fritillaries around, mostly males. Females looked heavy with eggs - made their flight cumbersome, as this picture perhaps shows:
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The females were easy to photograph:
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Sarah proves the point!
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Also say Dingy Skipper, Small Heath, and a single Adonis Blue:
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Finally strolled past Hazelbury Manor into Box and got the bus back to Bath. 14 species, and a great walk through the countryside. Highly recommended.

Simon C

Nice shots. Like the marsh fritilary shots. Seems to be a lot around this year which seems good. Adonis blue is nice, especially if you get them with their wings open, head on (males).

Keep up good pics.

@Simon, I must have just missed you at Hazelbury as I was there on Saturday but left about 3:15pm. WD on catching the adonis blue.

The marsh frits allowed some interesting viewpoints

Hi Eccles,

Shame we missed one another. The only folks at the common I saw were a lady walking a dog and a group of three people lazing at the upper end of the common who I got into conversation with. After a couple of minutes saying how wonderful it was to see so much out, and how early they were, etc etc, I realised we were talking at cross purposes - they were there for the orchids, and not the butterflies.

Did you also see the AB. The one I snapped seemed to be the only one around. I also looked for small blue but without luck.

Simon

well done simon on the Adonis , I was at hazelbury yesterday but didn't see one although there were lots of marsh frits,dingy skippers and common blue.Photography was difficult because of the wind but I did manage some half decent shots of the skippers.Iwill try again this weekend weather permitting
mark

@Simon, sorry I'm late replying. I didn't see the adonis when I visited Hazelbury, just the marsh frits and dingy skippers. I saw a single lep in flight that looked very like the mother shipton moth that I snapped previously at the quarry at Bath Golf Course. I want some decent weather so I can get back to Tucking Mill before those grizzled skippers have all gone.

I visited Hazelbury on Friday and Saturday (18th-19th May) last week. The first occasion I met a guy called Gordon, reckoned he knew you, Mark. He was looking mainly for small blue and we both drew a blank. But he said that last year he spotted a small colony at the Odd Down Park and Ride. Apparently the authority have planted wildflowers there and the butterflies have found them. I must go and take a look. There were still a few marsh frits, dingy skippers and common blue, plus the first 5 spot burnet that I've seen this year.
Incidently, before visiting Hazelbury that day, I popped round to Tucking Mill, and the grizzled skippers appear to have gone from there unfortunately.
On Saturday, there were several showers that sent me scurrying back to the car, but in between the sun was quite strong and the butterflies came out to play. I saw several dingy skipper, marsh fritillary, common blue, two small heath and two male adonis blue.

Must go over and have a look for those small blues.

Hi all
Yes I do know Gordon ,I will ask him about the small blue colony because I thought he told me they were at the Newbridge park and ride, there is another colony at the Bathampton Oxbow which is an Avon Wildlife Trust site but there is very limited acccess to the site.It is also worth trying West Yatton which is listed in the sites section
Regards
Mark

Do you know anything about a small blue colony near Lansdown, in the vicinity of the Civil War battlefield? I have heard it mentioned on the grapevine but no one seems to know where it is.

Simon

I'm a member of the Avon Wildlife Trust and managed to get a permit for Bathampton Oxbow, but access even with a permit is restricted to a peripheral path around the site. To enter the main site you have to lean on one of the wardens to take you round, and I got to do this today.
Lepidoptera total:
Green hairstreak - 0
Small blue - 0
Burnet companion moth - several
Odonata:
White legged damselfly - hundreds.
Broad bodied chaser - 1 female
Banded demoiselle - dozens of males and half a dozen females
The good spot of the day was red eyed damselfly, of which there were maybe half a dozen on the pool nearest the entrance gate.

I then hopped over to Hazelbury Common to find three very fresh looking large skippers that were extremely skittish and I got no pictures.
There were still a couple of marsh fritillaries hanging on, several dingy skippers and I snapped a nice pic of a mating pair of adonis blue. They were so preoccupied I was even able to nudge them round a bit at one point to get them lined up for the shot.
Kidney vetch is taking off in several places on the common now, but I still didn't see any small blue there.

Hi eccles
the small blue has been seen at bathampton this year,was the chap you saw Alan Barrett by any chance??
If you would like another trip there send me a private message and I will see what I can arrange
Regards
Mark

Hi Mark. Yes, it was Alan Barratt that took me round the reserve.
PM sent.

Simon, further on the small blue at Lansdown, it's most likely a false positive as there were numerous chimney sweeper moths there, which Peter suggests can be confused with small blue. More here: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... php?t=1153
I did catch sight of half a dozen small blue at Stoke Camp in Somerset yesterday though, and TBH, I couldn't really see the similarity myself. In sunshine especially, the small blue does look bluish when flying but the chimney sweeper does not.
More on the Stoke Camp SB here: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... php?t=1170

Here's a first hand report of small blue near Lansdown, I came across on the web:

http://www.brerc.org.uk/groups/abp/small_blue.htm

So it looks like there are some somewhere thereabouts.

Simon

Thanks for that Simon. I guess these people wouldn't make mistakes. I didn't explore much beyond the monument although I managed to find access to a field opposite that looked relatively unmanaged. But I didn't find kidney vetch in either of these two places so I'll have to visit again and explore further.

Simon, how about this?
http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citati ... 006283.pdf

I scoured The Tumps last week and found very little kidney vetch, no small blue but plenty of chimney sweeper moths.