British butterfly year listing with Nick Sampford continued With only five species to find in August I thought it should be quite straightforward.
5th August: travelled to Therfield Heath, a local site for Chalkhill Blues and luck was with us, with many present.
13th August: travelled to Aston Rowant, for Silver Spotted Skippers. Although the site is right next to the M40 and hance very noisy, there were hundreds of Chalkhill Blues on the wing. I managed to record 15 species within an hour, although I managed only 4 Silver Spotted Skippers. But this left me with just 4 species left to see plus migrants.
19th August: I was in Dorset looking for Adonis Blue and Lulworth Skipper, but the wind was strong and although we tried various locations we found neither of the target species. Nevertheless we notched up 18 species on the trip, including some nice photo opportunities. 24th August: On my way to Cornwall for a family holiday and another opportunity courtesy of a detour to search for the missing Adonis Blue and Lulworth Skipper. The detour took us into Dorset, via Noar Hill in Hampshire where conditions were perfect - hot and still. We arrived at Noar Hill and after an initial 2 hour panic, Angela found a Brown Hairstreak on a low Blackthorn bush and then followed three further hairstreaks and more photo opportunities. We then set off for Ballard Down.
Upon arrival at Ballard Down we immediately find an Adonis Blue, viewable from the car. In fact there were many hundreds on the wing with Common Blues. After about an hour of searching I spotted a Lulworth Skipper which, as if by magic, vanished into thin air. After another hour I found a second and managed a record shot before this one disappeared as well. And that was all I was to see of the Lulworth Skipper. All in all though we managed 14 species including a Silver Wash Fritillary, Wall Brown and Painted Lady. With just one species to go I drove on to Cornwall, happy.
26th August: With very few reports of Clouded Yellow, it seemed unlikely I would see one this year. But I still had 5 days left and with a report of Black Stok over Scillies, heading for Gwennap Head (in case it flew towards the mainland) seemed like a good idea. Whilst birding I catch a glimpse of a Clouded Yellow flying low over the ground, but immediately lose it to view. Was it or wasn't it ? Sometimes Large and Small White can appear yellow. Thankfully, half an hour later, it reappears and it's a Couded Yellow. I was well chuffed driving back through Penzance, all the more so when another Clouded Yellow flew over the car near St.Buryan. 29th August: I had spoken with someone who had said that there were second brook Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries in the dunes at Hayle, so I thought I would check out this site. I found 4 or 5 of these little beauties which was a great bonus. Indeed in two hours I found 16 species including another fly-by Clouded Yellow. September to the end of the year With all the regular species seen the only chance of increasing my list was with migrants. I made three trips to West Sussex, Portland in Dorset and Devon, all in search of Monarch, but failed each time. With no Camberwell Beauties reported, my buterfly year was as good as over. My last butterfly sighting was a Red Admiral on the 28th November in Bishops Stortford. During the year I had been to some beautiful places which I would probably not have visited otherwise and I managed to photograph 52 species in the year. Apart from missing Mountain Ringlet, it had been a great year...and there's always 2002 for that ringlet.
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