At this time of year I find myself making more journeys to locate specific species of butterfly to ensure I keep up with the emergence of butterflies during the year. Yesterday I saw black hairstreaks and today it was the turn of the silver studded blue, of which there is a colony at Silchester common, which, happily for me, is only a short distance from where one of my daughters lives.
I arrived at the parking area next to the adjacent Pamber forest to find a large group of people armed with cameras and binoculars standing around chatting , and the car park full. However, after turning round, I did manage to squeeze in at the side of the road a short distance away. It transpired that this was a Natural History group hoping to see butterflies as well as other flora and fauna.
I made my way past the group and headed out onto to an area of Silchester Common where I know that my target species are usually found. I noted that there was a lot of heather still in flower, in contrast to some of my previous visits when most had gone over. Several stonechats were calling from the tops of the gorse bushes. Initially the sun only appeared at intervals although it was quite warm with little wind. But when it did come out, so did the butterflies, fluttering only a few inches above the dry heathland. The blue males were predominant, but I did manage to find one brown female. In the sun, the butterflies settled with their wings open, and it took some time to find an individual with its wings closed, in order to look closely at the silver 'studs' which give the species its name. As the morning wore on, the clouds gradually disappeared and the numbers of butterflies increased before it was time to leave. I came across the Natural history group as I left, so was glad I had the site to myself for a while!
I went on to another site, Padworth common, to see if I could spot any dragonflies near the pond amongst the trees but only found blue damselflies and the occasional broad bodied chaser flying at the other end of the pond. However, on my way back to the car I had nice views of a roe deer which fed for quite a while before realising my presence.
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