Bringing Glee to Every Heart, With all Sadness Chased Away

 It was 6.30 am Saturday morning, the day was calm and sunny, in stark contrast to the weather forecast the previous evening.
I was at Titchfield Haven to meet my friend Chris for one of our weekend walks.
We decided to start with a sea watch in the hope of spotting something on early migration and as it warmed up we would switch our attention back to the Butterflies once they had become active.   

 I parked by the sea wall. Opposite, looking into the nature reserve the first thing to grab my attention was a Greenshank feeding  in the shallow water.

 Common Terns breed here and a few were feeding in the river.

 As I was early and Chris was yet to arrive, I decided to walk around the harbour to the visitor centre.
A Redshank waded through the water purposefully in search of food.

More Common Terns, this time on their nest platforms in the river. 

 It was lovely and quiet as the tide slowly rose into the harbour

More Terns appeared and hunted for fish right in front of me

 No luck this time

 The Isle of Wight was really clear and Cowes is opposite, about 5 miles distant.

 The clouds and early sun were making some great images

Back in the reserve there were many Canada Geese milling around. Oh and plenty more Terns that were proving irresistible to photograph....    

             

 To the East of Cowes is Norris Castle, built in 1790 by James Wyatt for Lord Henry Seymour. It has no fortifications and was built only for entertaining. Contrary to it's size, it has only 4 bedrooms!

 Back in the reserve a Little Egret had taken centre stage...

A Grey Heron has a technique all to do with stealth when catching fish. The Egrets' style is more of a run and stab affair, but it seems to work nonetheless.

 We decided to leave the Egret to have a preen after it's successful fishing attempts and headed 5 miles East and slightly inland to what can only be described as a fenced in disused car park.
This site in Gosport was recommended by another friend of mine. The specific reason being is that it holds a colony of rare butterfly. The White Letter Hairstreak. These spend the majority of their lives up in the tree canopy of Wych Elms but they do occasionally descend to feed on the bramble flowers.
The weather was perfect so we had high hopes.... 

Not only is it good for Hairstreaks but many other species too. Our first sighting was a Comma, showing exactly why it is given it's name.

Not only Butterflies feed here, a Common Darter patrolled the area and occasionally rested on the spent bramble heads.

The area is fringed by Oaks as well as Wych Elms with overgrown bramble and grass below that are slowly reclaiming the tarmac of the old car park.
We strained our necks and tried to find the Hairstreaks. Eventually we were rewarded, but it was right near the top. Can you spot it?

Luckily with a zoom lens we could get a closer view. The 'White Letter' showing well on the underside of the wings. Still distant, we hoped one would fly down. Other Butterflies took our attention as we waited... another Hairstreak, this time a Purple...

A Gatekeeper or 'Hedge Brown'

What I first thought was a Hairstreak descending turned out to be a Brown Argus...

Essex Skipper above and a rather tatty Meadow Brown below

Another beautiful Comma sat well for it's portrait and a Ringlet too...

Chris spotted a Common Blue in the grasses, this place was turning into Butterfly heaven !

Another Essex Skipper. There were also Small Skipper around too...

Crickets were everywhere and some basked on the patches of tarmac.
Chris found this Longhorn beetle too.
I was here a few days prior to check out this area and on that visit I sighted a Peregrine circling above. We saw another on this day too but it was too quick for our cameras this time.

The conditions and time were perfect but Nature being the arbitrary thing it can be, the Hairstreaks refused to descend. In total there were 11 species of Butterfly here. We walked away in awe of a place so nondescript it is mostly ignored by the general public and regarded as an untidy brownfield site that needs tidying up. Nature, fortunately doesn't do tidy and I hope it is left alone. I fear it will be developed at some point but in the mean time I will pop by when I can to see what this gem offers.

Time was ticking and we had another place to visit.
The car park had a colony of Purple Hairstreaks also but as Hairstreaks do, they were high in the canopy. We know of a place where there are stunted oak trees, so if the Butterflies wont come to us, we could go to them!

This is Browndown. MOD owned heathland and a five minute walk from my home.

Small Skippers mating gave us our first sighting here, along with another Common Blue









We found our way to the Oaks. The Purple Hairstreaks are guaranteed here and if you can't see them as they do tend to blend in or tuck themselves away, you just shake the branches as Chris did. Immediately several flew up. The good thing is they stay faithful to one tree and usually land right back as if on a piece of elastic.
They are quite easy to get up close to for photos too...

Occasionally they open their wings. The purple showing well here...

and lovely yellow tongues as it drank the tree sap!

Fantastic views of a normally hard to see species. Our attentions then turned to another speciality here, The Grayling.
This is easier to see as it resides on the ground. It has an amazing camouflage though and when at rest it blends in perfectly with the stones.

Moving on we walked past swathes of Bell Heather in full bloom

Nearby a Marbled White drank from the bramble flowers.

We came back to the cars and had a decision to make. His Royal Highness, the most revered and respected Butterfly the Purple Emporer was on our 'Must see' list today. There were two choices,either Whiteley where only a couple had been seen or Alice Holt were many sightings had been reported. It was a no brainer, so Alice Holt it was.

We had been here a year ago and had reasonable views up in the trees. Today we hoped for more.
After a wrong turn and a little confusion as to where we needed to be, we found the right area and parked up to walk the track, scanning the Oaks for any sign... 

Farnborough Airshow was being held nearby so an early sighting was of this Oil Spill Response Boeing 727 !

Woundwort grew well along the pathway and every so often a Silver Washed Fritillary shot past, would give us a once over then head to the nearest bramble flower to feed if we were lucky.

We reached the area where Purple Emporers' are seen and waited craning our necks in hope.
Chris spotted a Red Kite in the distance and I managed a very quick shot. The forked tail a dead giveaway to identify it.
It had now clouded over with the occasional sunburst.

Purple Emporers live high up in the Oak trees and breed where Sallow trees grow beneath. Occasionally they do descend to the floor and have a taste for faeces where they sit and take up nutrients. They are highly territorial and will check out humans frequently, even landing upon us.

It was later in the day however, so our chances were slim. After quite a while I spotted one chasing a Comma! Chris got onto it with his binoculars but it zipped off high into the Oaks before a shot could be had...damn!!

We were slightly appeased by this beautiful White Admiral that flew around the glade. We both muttered please stop, please stop as though it would make any difference!?

It settled for a while which made a change

 Large Skipper showed well on the brambles too. Along with these Hoverfly which were acting a little differently. One would hover above the other while it fed on the flowers. At first we presumed it was fanning the one below as it was very humid. We then surmised that the one above was the male who was shadowing the female and protecting her from rival males?
He would occasionally get an intruder who he would chase off. He then resumed position above her.

One last photograph of a Meadow Brown posing nicely on this rose and we trudged back feeling slightly disappointed His Royal Highness proved elusive but couldn't complain about a day that produced some stunning sightings and some unforeseen summer weather.

A flypast of an Airbus A400 transport plane out of Farnborough saw us off home....

N.B.
The title of this post is an excerpt taken from the poem - Summertime, O Summertime by Valerie Dohren