Tuesday 17th. July 2012

A busy day , visiting four sites and finding quite a bit of interest , so two sites tonight on picture and comment format , the other two I'll post tomorrow , As I will be tied to the house awaiting a delivery .

First stop was the Ash tree up on the Common , still no Purple Hairstreaks coming down onto the

vegetation , this male fed and sunbathed in view , but too high up .

Whites , like this Green-veined , have been few and far between this Summer .

This Crab Spider would find it's breakfast easier if it moved onto an Ox-eye Daisy or other white flower .

Amongst all the long grass , a little patch of Hairy Tare / Vicia hirsuta , a member of the Pea family , with it's delicate , small flowers .
Second site was on the Downs , managed by Butterfly Conservation , specifically for the Chalkhill Blue butterfly . It was very quiet and cool on arrival with just a few Meadow Browns seen .

This Ringlet didn't look happy , nor would I with several mites attached to my head .

Cool yes , but I wasn't expecting to photograph Waxcaps , Scarlet Hood / Hygrocybe coccinea .

Autumn Gentians are well advanced but not yet in flower , but a relations , Yellow-wort /Blackstonia

perfoliata , and the pink Common Centaury / Centaunum erythraea , are well in flower .

As is the aromatic Marjoram / Origanum vulgare , a member of the Labiate family .

The wet weather was definitely to the liking of the Roman Snails , which were seen all over .

Some flowers have already gone to seed , like the brown pods of Birdsfoot Trefoil and the green , horseshoe shaped pods of Horseshoe vetch .

Just about to leave the site , when I found a male Chalkhill Blue that had only just emerged , and was

pleased to get some warmth from my finger . Absolutely pristine , with one wing still not yet fully

 inflated . It was the only one I found on the whole site , so I left him to wait for others to emerge .