Silver-spotted Skipper

Dave had just got back from his latest butterflying holiday but with nothing interesting to look at on the local birding front, it was butterflies for him again today. We went to see if the Silver-spotted Skippers were out yet on Newtimber Hill.

I can't see that Dave could have been too exited by the idea. He had just logged 120+ butterflies in a week including close on 50 life ticks and probably had thousands of photographs to sort through. A few more shots of the Silver-spotted Skipper would seem like a very low priority.

To make matters worse they were not easy to find. Cloud cover and a cool wind when we arrived meant that there was not much flying beyond the usual Meadow Browns. However, as it warmed up a few began to appear, although we were probably a week early and they were not in the numbers we had seen in previous years.

They tend to stay low down in the grass so can be difficult to photograph but at least they do show the underside of their wings, the bit you want in your photograph, a lot more than the other small skippers.

By the time we left the hill it was very hot and humid. An early warning of the huge lightning storms to come that night. There were a few more butterflies around but still not in the numbers that I would expect.

No Chalkhill Blues about but there were a few Common Blues flying.

Common Blue

We called in at Pulborough Brooks for a quick look at the Dragonflies in the afternoon. There were plenty flying but nothing unusual.

Azure Blue Damselfly

Black Darter

Emerald Damselfly

Roll on the cool winter days and the return of the waders.