I'd been waiting for an opportunity to revisit Silchester common to look for Silver studded blue butterflies so when I was asked to do a spot of childminding I realised I could combine it quite easily as the site is only a few miles from where my daughter lives.
This area of heathland is an easy place to locate this species of butterfly provided you know when and where to look. With many species earlier on the wing than usual this year, I thought the timing would be right, and I'd already seen reports of silver studded blues else where.
Being a weekday the parking are ;was quite empty, especially as it had only just stopped raining, ( sometimes it can be difficult to find a space as the area is popular with dog walkers). I then headed along a familiar path through some bracken and gorse, across a short boardwalk and on to an area of heath. Almost immediately I saw my target species, two in fact, both the blue males. The sun came out briefly and I managed to get some pictures of the butterflies with open wings before it then clouded over a bit more and although the butterflies were still flying low amongst the heather, when they stopped, it was with wings closed, giving me the shots I wanted, showing the 'studs' ( which look more blue than silver) which the give the species its name.
I decided to not wait any longer, although I only saw a handful of butterflies, and no females, and drove on to my daughter's house, having gathered another tick for the year.
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