Clouded yellow butterflies are a summer migrant, often seen at the end of the season and into October, but they don't always arrive in large numbers, in fact last summer they were few and far between and I didn't record any sightings myself.
So with a few reports now coming in I thought I'd follow up any local sightings. Several days ago in a set aside field just outside Letcombe Regis, three or four Clouded yellow butterflies were seen so today I decided to drive over there, a thirty minute trip, to see if I could find them. I wasn't really expecting success as they had not been reported in the mean time, but it was worth a try anyway in the hope that one or two were still there. The weather was a mix of sun and cloud and quite windy so I hoped for the best.
After looking on Google maps I realised that I could park fairly close to a footpath that crossed the field and then walk down the field edges so that is what I did. Scanning the field and edges I saw several small whites and a common blue but as I walked downhill I suddenly noticed a small yellow triangle ahead down on the grass. Could it be?
Getting my camera out and stepping closer I realised I had found my target species, which then flew up.. and landed on a scabious flower just close by. And that is where it stayed more or less for the next 40 minutes, occasionally taking off and then returning. I decided to sit down on the grass with my camera and just snap away. The wind was actually quite gusty which may be why it didn't fly anywhere else - most of the time it clung onto the same flower, moving around as it nectared, and quite undisturbed by me sitting only a few feet away.
No one else showed up so I had the field to myself, It was the only one I saw, but it is a large field and, happily for me, in the windy conditions it just happened to stop where I was. The upper wings of the Clouded Yellows are a bright gold colour but can only be seen when they fly as they rest with wings closed and underneath they are much paler. A flight photo I managed to get showed it was a female.
I didn't realise I had captured this one! The yellow spots within the dark edges indicate this is a female
small whites
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