The first warm sunny day for a while gave me the chance to head over to Rodborough Common to see the early spring butterflies that fly there at the beginning of May.
I headed down the steep hillside at the end of the common, to where the butterflies I was looking for, usually can be found. Surprisingly no one else was already there, and at first I could see no butterflies at all. Then a single dingy skipper flew up and then settled on a buttercup. It was sunny so I was surprised that there was so little butterfly activity. As I glanced around, I caught sight of a glimmer of green amongst the grass a little way off - a somewhat battered green hairstreak was partly hidden amongst the leaves. Then I spotted a small heath which settled for a short time before I lost it from sight further along the hillside.
Meanwhile I was joined by another gentleman, who then started looking closely at something a few metres away. He had found a pristine Duke of Burgundy! It obligingly posed for quite a while allowing for some photos.
I got chatting to him; he had one more species of UK butterfly still to find - the mountain ringlet, having failed to find it last year. Unless you live nearby it is often the last butterfly to be found, as it entails a trek up a mountainside in the lake district - although last year I met someone who told me he wanted his last butterfly to be the Swallowtail! This gentleman also told me about the species he'd seen at a quarry in Portland, where I hope to visit at the end of the month!
Another couple came by, and while there we saw a one or two more dingy skippers and another green hairstreak. No common blues or brown argus to be found, however.
Although I had ticked off the species I had targeted for this visit, butterflies were, admittedly, in short supply. Perhaps a few more days of sunshine will bring some more. Interestingly none of the people I spoke to today had seen a Red Admiral yet this year!
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