www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I'd like to look for small blue in my area, possibly Black Rock, and according to the flight times chart, there is a small second brood round about this time. Is it worth hunting them out or is the second brood so small as to be insignificant?
Thanks.

It is normally a lot smaller - but reports have been coming in of 2nd brood Small Blue. So they are emerging!

I generally monitor the various BC branch sightings pages. See http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/sightings.php

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Pete. Weather isn't so good today with showers forecast but tomorrow onwards could be ok. There's a cluster of sites around Cheddar that might be good to look maybe on Wednesday.

Small Blues have had a bad time in the Mendips in recent years; Stoke Camp is probably the most likely site to find them.

Thanks for the tip.

I checked out Stoke Camp today, along with some of its surroundings but I saw no small blue at all. There were good numbers of chalkhill blue, a few common blue, one or two brown argus plus the usual hoards of gatekeeper and meadow brown. I also saw a single small copper and a single grayling. Oddly, since there was no water around there were many migrant hawker and common darter dragonflies.
I may check out Dolebury Warren on Saturday. Has anyone visited there?

I was along at the BC field trip to Stoke Camp and Draycott Sleights today; there were about half a dozen Small Blues on Stoke Camp. The Graylings were far harder to find; one was eventually tracked down on Draycott Sleights, and it appears there is only a very small population there.

That's interesting. Can you tell me where approximately on Stoke Camp you saw them? I'll go down there again if I can be sure of seeing them.

Bear right when going through the main entrance gate, contouring round the hill rather than going straight up. There is a patch of bracken and brambles, and most of the Small Blues were in this vicinity - there were others in longer grass further along, again towards the foot of the slope.

Apparently the Small Blue is still at Dolebury Warren, by the way, but is very scarce there. It has been written off as extinct twice in the last decade, but some were seen there last year.

I know where you mean, thanks. There's some thistle and stuff there too I seem to remember and I saw brown argus, common blue and small copper there last time. I should have looked a bit harder, and perhaps studied those brown argus a bit more carefully! Still, it's a wonderful area to visit with those views over the Somerset Levels, especially from the Sleights. Saturday or Sunday looks good for a revisit.

Murphy's law strikes with the cool weather at present. I may still try this week if it looks like half a chance.

I chanced a trip down to Stoke Camp again today and had all but given up but then had a stroke of luck. A guy was doing a transect through the reserve and knew exactly where to find them, saying, "Look around that little bush in that hollow."
He came over with me and immediately said "There's one." I couldn't see it at first and he kept pointing it out until I saw it hiding low down on a stalk of grass. I grabbed a few shots but the light was bad and it was in a difficult place as well. I left the spot but went back again an hour later when it was a bit brighter and saw another perched in a much better position, and here it is!