Monday 1 August 2011

Butterflies' second emergence

It's a warning! The first Autumn Gentians have been seen, admittedly in the strange microclimate of Langdon Tramway above Dover docks.
But it means that summer's on its wane, albeit a bit of a heatwane at the moment hehehe. The Glorious Twelfth will soon be upon us, the date when attention is drawn to birding again, with the almighty crash of long-lens shutters replacing the peaceful easy botanising and butterflying.

But in meantime, let's enjoy the second emergence of butterflies into the warmth of the summer. Many species have a twin flight-time, presumably to compensate for an adverse season - if the weather in June is not good, the population will have more chance of success if a second brood hatches and breeds in August.
Chalkhill Blues were certainly making the most of it, with males emerging a couple of days ago to be joined by the females on Sunday.
A few Dingy Skippers were seen, and just one gorgeous Adonis Blue.
My garden list improved again with a pristine Speckled Wood visiting, and a count was attempted of Small Blues in the village.
The main site, by Campbells garage, held just four, and another was seen along the rifle range. The surprise was to see 26 on a small piece of grassland inland by the golf course, where there are normally only a few seen. The site has improved in the last few years with kidney vetch spreading well, and the littl'uns are enjoying it.

Before the Glorious Twelfth, then, there's just time to sneak in a few more flower pics....
Bog Pimpernel now almost finished by the fourth tee of Royal St George's, and Broad-leaved Cudweed at the other end of the county.

4 comments:

DOT said...

Took a walk along the coast to Rottingdean yesterday, making a detour to walk up an over Windmill Hill, as I call it, behind St. Dustans. Saw lost of butterflies there. In my classification, there were little blue ones, big blue ones and some brown ones. (I am a natural at taxonomy.)

Flora said...

I knew when I saw common fleabane in flower that autumn would be hard on its heels. Never seen autumn gentian or bog pimpernel :-( Thanks for sharing photos. Lovely plants :-) Mel

Greenie said...

Steve ,
No Autumn Gentian at Denbies yesterday so it's still summer over here .
Good count of 2nd.gen Small Blues .
Like that Bog Pimpernel .

Kingsdowner said...

Thanks all for your comments:
David, I stand in awe...