Summer butterfly’s: Part 1(chalk hillsides)
During the height of summer when the busy activity of spring dies down, birds become quieter and autumn migration is still a few weeks away, it’s the perfect opportunity to turn to some of the other local fauna. Butterflies are one of those which are great fun trying to find and enjoyable to photograph in the local countryside even just outside the city. The majority of my outings over this past summer season were focused on them and discovering new locations and species I hadn’t encountered before. The chalk grasslands and south facing hillsides of the Surrey hills are teeming with a diverse range and here in this post a few of the highlights of the inhabitants of this ecosystem are featured for the first part of this series.
After walking through the woodland and coming out onto the open slope with the strong morning light just starting to properly punch through it was clear this was the right spot as one after the other they appeared over the grass. A few visits to this same location during either sunny or partially mixed cloud cover provided great morning sessions here. Adonis Blue’s were fairly abundant and as the image above shows they’re extremely bright sea blue with iridescence, standing out amongst the foliage and easily differentiated from the other blues by just how strong the colouration is. They were amazing to see and although not in high number, after following a few around I managed to get various shots of the upperwing and underwing and they do tend to sit still if approached slowly.
Chalk grassland allows very little nutrients into the ground which in turn has a positive impact on a range of flora. Wildflowers and the food plant for specific species like Kidney Vetch among others are able to thrive here as it doesn’t become overrun with long grass, but rather remains short and a real mix of flowers grow all over.
Just walking every couple metres or so along the path revealed a Blue sp or Brown Argus fly up and onto the next patch. Standing in one spot and scanning the immediate area revealed scattered Brown Argus which were the most common of the blues here.
Although shooting butterfly’s with wings fully open was always the main goal, it wasn’t always possible and its still great working with different side on compositions when wings are closed and they’re perched in vegetation. When it comes to blues, they have really unique underwing patterns, so make great subjects. The soft or overcast light meant they’d quieten down and find a spot to rest and close their wings. The short grass makes it harder to get shots from above without much mess in the background, but getting low and level with them in amongst the grass makes for nice framing.
Sometimes there would be entire groups of Brown Argus together and attracted to the same herb growing, they were more common at the higher end of the hill that was bordering the tree line and around scrub, maybe less competition with the other species that seemed to prefer the open treeless areas that gain the most sunlight.
Silver-spotted Skippers were abundant and the only species of skipper present on these hillsides in late summer. They’re quite skittish and any sudden movement can send them right off into the distance, but a slow approach to the flower its feeding on made it possible to get some close ups. A clump of buddleia in the middle attracted a few and they seemed more settled there. The skippers also started stunning their wings in the open as the bright morning sun came out.
Staying mostly at ground level, Chalk-hill Blues were also fairly frequent, though not in large numbers. Their light sky blue colour and duller underwing sets them apart from the others. Many would land in awkward places but eventually one would land in a clear spot and higher up plant stem.
It seemed most of these had emerged a little while prior to when I visited the location first as most were already quite tatty, losing colouration and having some damage to the wings overtime. Though fortunately I had come across one fresh looking Chalkhill blue that showed nicely for a couple minutes by the edge of one of the lower paths.
I came across both female Adonis and Common Blue that had extreme blue colouration replacing the much more common brownish appearance. Common Blues were much scarcer here, although more frequent at other sites away from chalk grassland. Females were harder to find but it appears about 1 in 5 had a significant blueish colouration on the upper-wings and when tracking one down it was always great to be able to photograph one perched in the open showing off the spread out wings.
Intervals of sun and cloud means there’s a pattern to butterfly searching during the summer. When its bright you can follow the trails meandering through the grassy hillsides and pick out indivudals fairly quickly and will be easier to find your targets just by watching over the top of the grass. Once the clouds cover over its a little more tricky but focusing at the vegetation at close range and generally mid level up the stems will reveal the odd perched butterfly with wings closed.
The next parts to this series will feature the inhabitants of open woodland, forest edges, lower level fields and scrubland, where there is a whole other range of other species.