Thursley Common & Hankley Common ~ 19 June, 20 June & 26 June

2 visits to new areas of Thursley Common away from the popular Moat Car Park. Effort was concentrated towards the southern end, where mosaic-style management seems to be a lot more prominent and consequently the area is a lot more biodiverse.

Dartford Warbler, Woodlark, Tree Pipit & Redstart are all in good numbers, the latter appearing to have had a particularly good year.

Silver-studded Blues are thinly distributed with the exception of one dense population on the western edge. A ~50m transect yielded 48. Numbers of Bombus lucorum across the site are very impressive along with smaller numbers of hypnorum & terrestris.

Bombus lucorum (M)

Silver-studded Blue

Ammophila wasps were abundant and consequently one lone Mottled Bee-fly (Thyridanthrax fenestratus) was found on my latter visit.

Mottled Bee-fly ~ Thyridanthrax fenestratus

A trip to Hankley Common Golf Course on the 20th June was notable for 1 Mottled Bee-fly but most impressively for Textrix denticulata, seemingly a first for Surrey and a very rare sighting in the SE of England.

East Blean Woods ~ 15 June

A trip to East Blean Woods in search of Heath Fritillaries  parking here and exploring the clearings nearby. Following a heavy rain shower, the humidity was high which brought out a dozen or so  fritillaries which favoured vegetation >1m in length. During periods of sunny weather their flight was strong and flicking,  but immediately became inactive and approachable during periods of cloud.

The only other butterflies seen at the site were 1 Red Admiral, 2 Holly Blue & 1 Speckled Wood.

Heath Fritillary ~ Melitaea athalia 

Heath Fritillary ~ Melitaea athalia

2 Green-eyed (Norfolk) Hawker were a nice surprise, presumably dispersing from nearby Westbere Marshes, and good numbers of hoverflies were making use of the coppiced clearings, including several of the impressive Volucella inflata.

Volucella inflata 

Green-eyed Hawker - Aeshna isoceles

A brief trip to Westbere Marshes on the way home found another couple of Green-eyed Hawker and this female Hairy Dragonfly feeding on a bee. 

 

Aston Rowant ~ 7 August

A morning trip to Aston Rowant in search of butterflies, parking here and exploring the downs to the north of the M40.

Silver-spotted Skippers were in high numbers with over 40. Chalkhill Blues and Brown Argus were abundant, particularly towards the bottom of the slope as they nectared in high densities on Wild Marjoram.

Brimstones, Small Tortoisehells, Peacock and all 3 of the common orange skippers were in high numbers.

Stockbridge Down ~ 4 August

A very quick mid-morning trip where Chalkhill Blues were out in astonishing numbers with 500+ across the down. A couple of Essex Skipper were at the bottom of the down among the more numerous Large and Small.

A couple of late and rather tatty Dark Green Fritillaries were still flying

Chalkhill Blue ~ Polyommatus coridon

Chalkhill Blue ~ Polyommatus coridon

Essex Skipper ~ Thymelicus lineola

Alner's Gorse - 31 July

My first visit to this excellent Butterfly Conservation reserve between Blandford Forum and Yeovil. Parking available in a small layby here.

The main target of this visit was Brown Hairstreak, and 1m and 2f were found at 2 locations:
   ~ thistles at the end of the footpath running downhill from the entrance
   ~ on blackthorn/thistles on western side of main reserve

Purple Hairstreak were common on virtually all of the more substantial trees and regularly coming down to nectar on bramble. 1 White-letter Hairstreak was seen nectaring on brambles low down on western side of reserve.

Impressive numbers of Silver-washed Fritillaries were present in the woods to the north including one Valezina.

Purple Hairstreak ~ Favonius quercus

White-letter Hairstreak ~ Satyrium w-album

Brown Hairstreak ~ Thecla betulae

Brown Hairstreak ~ Thecla betulae