At last I had an opportunity to go and search for some of the early spring butterflies that have emerged. It had been a sunny morning but was now clouding over and as I left work I hoped that the forecasted rain at 3pm would hold off and that there would be sufficient sunshine to encourage the butterflies to fly at Rodborough Common. I was particularly hoping to find green hairstreak and duke of burgundy at this site with hopefully, a few more species as well. I got to the carpark just before one o'clock and managed to secure the last space in the partly flooded car parking area. There is one particular area which is sheltered at the bottom of the slope of the common and I headed there as this where you can generally find the butterflies.
I took a gentle route across the slope rather than descending the steep bank, stopping to search some hawthorn and gorse for green hairstreaks, but I drew a blank, perhaps due to the fact that the sun was only shining intermittently. I therefore decided to carry on traversing the slope but was suddenly attracted by the movement of a small brown butterfly, just ahead of me which turned out to be a duke of burgundy! It settled for quite a while with wings open for allowing some close photos.
Not long afterwards, as I continued along the narrow path, another butterfly fluttered into view, showing green and brown which I realised must be a green hairstreak! It, too obligingly, settled for some photos.
I did see a further few duke of burgundy butterflies on my visit, and also a first dingy skipper and brown argus, but sadly they didn't stay around long. The sun was becoming increasingly obscured by clouds and I realised that I probably wouldn't see any more so returned to my car.
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