LONG TAILED BLUES AT PORTSDOWN HILL

My best butterfly year is continuing as I added another rare species to my year list today. Long tailed blues are relatively scarce migrants which turn up from time to time along the south coast of the UK and occasionally further inland.  I saw my first one several years back when there were records coming in from Lancing Ring  near Worthing. However on that occasion I never managed any really close shots, or butterflies with closed wings, showing their unmistakeable wavy underwing pattern. 

Portsdown Hill is a much closer location to me, and is described in the Hants and IOW Butterfly walk book, so I was able to find it fairly easily, although when I arrived at the carpark ate 9.30 am I was  somewhat surprised to see it almost full. Surely these cars didn't just belong to butterfly enthusiasts? I would expect birders to arrive early, but butterflies often fly later in the day.  As the carpark had fine views of  Portsmouth harbour and the Isle of Wight, it would perhaps be a  good stop off point for  people wanting a  break or  to make a phone call etc..  

Anyway, after securing a place to park, I had my coffee and then got out to explore. There was a path leading to some wild flower areas directly west of the car park, so I took a quick walk to see what I could find, however, this didn't fit with the description of a bench at the east of the reserve. Then after  bumping into someone else who hadn't visited before, ( and I discovered actually read some of  my blogs!),  we decided that the location we needed was across the road where a number of paths criss-crossed a  gently sloping chalk hillside. Once across the busy road, a gap in the hedge provided access to the area we wanted to reach, and led down to a path. We headed east and found a basic bench around which the grass  had been trampled down,  a clear sign that we were close to  our target butterfly!  Some white butterflies were flying about, and some common blues landed on vegetation, and I saw a butterfly which settled briefly on a leaf which I was pretty sure was a long tailed blue though it soon flew off. A couple of people  with cameras passed by and directed us to another area a little further along  where a path led up behind some wild flowers  then back  down again to the main  path. They'd seen a couple of LTBs and went back and pointed one out. In fact over the next    half hour or so, there were two LTBs, interacting with each other in the air, before occasionally settling on a piece of vegetation near enough to photograph them,  Their fast. zig zag flight made it difficult to follow them . Although rather tatty and faded, one did still have its 'tails' and it was possible to get a decent photo or two.  On the paths lower down the slopes I  saw several chalk hill blues, common blues, and a clouded yellow, also  meadow browns and small heaths.

I think I need to keep an eye on the  sightings page to see if any butterflies of this rare species emerge later in  September or October and make another trip if time permits.