Tuesday, 22 May 2018

Small Butterflies at Sutton Hoo (and a Holly Blue in the Garden)




There were a few butterflies fluttering about at Sutton Hoo, but not in the numbers we had hoped to see. We watched a couple of skittish Speckled Woods, but they didn't pause for the camera. However, Small Coppers always put on a good show despite their tiny size, and there were several about, some of them flying in pairs.  


There were no tours round the royal burial mounds, which surprised us on a sunny afternoon, but it was lovely to see the trees back in leaf and blossom. 


We had a good view of Woodbridge over the river Deben. You can see all the dandelion clocks in the foreground. 


The soil at Sutton Hoo is sandy, and this suits a butterfly that is even smaller, I believe, than the Small Copper, namely the Small Heath. We noticed a few of these exquisite creatures. In some ways the Small Heath resembles the Gatekeeper, but it is much smaller and has one white spot on each forewing instead of a pair. 


The Small Copper below looked rather ragged, but perhaps most of the 'marks' are grains of sand as I suspect the adult butterfly had only recently emerged. 


 It was a joy to hear and watch a couple of Skylarks.


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21 May 2018



Having enjoyed sightings of the Small Copper and Small Heath at NT Sutton Hoo, it was lovely to find a Holly Blue in our own garden - and one that actually stopped to perch for a few seconds.  



If you are in the UK, you might like to vote for your iconic insect on the BugLife site here. I was torn between two in the England list!
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5 comments:

  1. eileeninmd22 May 2018 at 12:31

    Hello, pretty collection of butterflies. Enjoy your day and new week ahead.

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  2. Amanda Peters22 May 2018 at 17:27

    Lovely photos, I to was lucky enough to have a Holy Blue in the garden yesterday. If this lovely weather keeps up it should be a good year for butterflies.
    Amanda xx

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  3. Simon Douglas Thompson22 May 2018 at 21:00

    Great set of pics. I have been lucky enough to watch skylarks recently myself, relatively closely too. Super birds.

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  4. David M. Gascoigne,23 May 2018 at 15:06

    It’s good to see such a wide variety of species making an appearance. We are seeing many species here too, including the odd diurnal moth recently. We seem to have skipped spring and gone right into summer.

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  5. Lowcarb team member24 May 2018 at 19:03

    That is a lovely view of Woodbridge over the river Deben.
    So nice to see all of your photographs.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete