Not wanting to go down to the New Forest, I discovered that Silchester common near Tadley has a colony of these butterflies so that was where I set off for this morning. The weather was cloudy but dry, with the possibility of brightening up later.
After a coffee stop at Sarah's, (who lives a few miles away) I found the car park without difficulty. Pamber Forest is right next to the common, so I headed there first, looking for woodland butterflies. With a lot of cloud around, there wasn't much activity, but I did manage to see one white admiral, and a couple of silver washed fritillary, as well as numerous ringlets and meadow browns, a few large skippers and one red admiral.
entrance to Pamber forest
ringlet
large skipper
silver washed fritillary
After eating lunch back at the car, I ventured onto Silchester common. Again it was still cloudy, and I wasn't sure what butterflies would be about. I saw several meadow browns, and was just wondering if I would find any silver studded blues, when I saw a blue butterfly flying around some heather just in front of me. When it landed, I could see it was a very tatty male silver studded blue!
silver studded blue (male)
It started to brighten a little, and I waited around, hoping it would attract a few more of these little butterflies. Sure enough I soon noticed a female then a few more individuals, both female and males,all within a few square metres of heather.
The females seemed much less worn than the males, but both tended to rest with wings open and I really wanted to get a photo of the silver studding on the underside of the wings. Eventually, I spied a female and managed to get a few clear shots.
silver studded blue female
underside of wing showing 'studding' on hind wing.
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