Bank Holiday Monday, and the rain is siling down in the time-honoured manner. However, the past couple of days had enough sunshine for a few late butterflies to venture out. On Saturday I was gifted with my first Small Copper of the year. I was skirting a golf course (averting my eyes), wading through the long dry grass beside the fairway, when suddenly, out of nowhere, it appeared - a bright, fresh and beautiful specimen. It perched on a flowerhead almost at my feet, flashed its wings a couple of times, and was off.
That was the only butterfly I saw that afternoon, but yesterday I headed for the Surrey Hills determined to see more. By the time I arrived at the hillside I was heading for, clouds had covered the sun, a wind had come up and my hopes were not high. However, as I explored, I soon came across a Chalkhill Blue - a tired and tatty female, but a joy to see, especially as it was my first of the year. Happily it was not to be the last. In the course of my wanderings, despite the unpromising conditions, I came across at least a dozen more, some fresh and vigorous, others looking decidedly end-of-season, but all of them beautiful in that unique silvery, cloudy, milky-blue Chalkhill way. And, by way of a bonus and to show just how intensely blue a blue can be, a male Adonis Blue flew past in all his shimmering glory. These were just the highlights; there were also Common blues galore, Small Heaths, Brown Argus... Even if it rains for the next month, that was a splendid climax to the butterfly year.
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Saturday must have been a good day for Coppers. I spotted a Bronze Copper (Lycaena hyllus - - a first for me) while mucking around the margins of a brackish marsh. A photogenic fellow, he posed for about a dozen pics.
ReplyDeleteAh lovely... That's one we don't get over here - only the Small Copper, though there have been attempts to reintroduce the Large. One of the charms of British butterfly fancying is that there are so few species - barely 60 in all.
ReplyDeleteThe comment on species numbers goes double for Odonata. Last time I looked the U.K. list ran to 54 species of dragonflies and damselflies. When I left for the colonies I had ticked off some 20 species from that list.
ReplyDeleteI get over here to start a new life list and what do I find but 180 species in the state of Virginia alone! How the hell do you hope to make a dent in that lot?
You'd best steer clear of beetles Banished - 25,000 so far described in N America, could be several thousand more to come...
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ReplyDeleteشركة نقل عفش
اهم شركات مكافحة حشرات بالخبر كذلك معرض اهم شركة مكافحة حشرات بالدمام والخبر والجبيل والخبر والاحساء والقطيف كذلك شركة رش حشرات بالدمام ومكافحة الحشرات بالخبر
شركة مكافحة حشرات بالدمام
شركة تنظيف خزانات بجدة الجوهرة من افضل شركات تنظيف الخزانات بجدة حيث ان تنظيف خزانات بجدة يحتاج الى مهارة فى كيفية غسيل وتنظيف الخزانات الكبيرة والصغيرة بجدة على ايدى متخصصين فى تنظيف الخزانات بجدة
شركة تنظيف خزانات بجدة
شركة كشف تسربات المياه بالدمام
شركة نقل عفش واثاث
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