LARGE BLUE AT DANEWAY BANK

The  large blue butterflies have just started emerging at Daneway banks reserve near Cirencester so I headed over there this afternoon straight from work. The forecast was sunny with some cloud around, so I thought that would be perfect for some sightings of these rare butterflies. 

I parked the car in a layby at the bottom of the hill then walked up the narrow steep road to the gate to the reserve. Someone was just leaving and informed me that there were a few butterflies around, through the main gate then through another gate on the left.  I could see a few people gathered in one area so made for that spot. 

I was shown a  butterfly which perched briefly, wings closed on a seed head and then another which remained for longer. I have learned that large blues prefer to keep their wings closed during the hot sun, only opening them when it clouds over so, with only a few patches of cloud around, it  had  its wings tightly shut.  

Some people tried casting a shadow over it to encourage it to open its wings but to no avail. Eventually a cloud  covered the sun and the wings opened, ever so slightly but sufficiently to give everyone a chance to  see the pattern on the wing and to obtain some record photos.

I only saw about three or four of these large blues, including a mating pair. It seemed as if they had only just started emerging and the usual area  I find them in had none at all yet. Walking through the reserve, I spotted my first marbled whites of the year, and there were a few meadow browns too. Surprisingly there were not the numbers of butterflies I had expected on such a sunny day.  Some other visitors who had spent the morning at the reserve had also spotted ringlet, brown argus, small skipper and dark green fritillary but I didn't see these.

I was pleased for one young chap, who said that the large blue was his final UK butterfly to have seen. He had come down from Lincolnshire especially and was even prepared to go on to Somerset if he didn't find one in Gloucestershire!  It seems it was just in time, as he also told me he was about to go out to Australia with a view to emigrating there!