Tag Archives: Small blue butterfly

Surprise Small blues

20 Wednesday May 2026

Posted by in nature

≈ Comments Off on Surprise Small blues

Tags

, , , , , , ,

I had only ever seen a Small blue butterfly (Cupido minimus) twice before my recent trip to Weymouth, the first time back in the summer of 2018 during a visit to a friend in East Sussex (see Small and blue, 27 July 2018) and the second time in 2019, during a bird club trip to Salisbury Plain (Birding on Salisbury Plain, 13 May 2019). And I hadn’t expected to see them on this recent trip but Nature played a blinder!

I was over the moon to see Small blues three days in a row, all on the Isle of Portland but all in locations where I never expected to find them. The first was on Friday 8 May in King Barrow Quarry, where I was amazed to spot three in one small area, a little colony.

The second was the following day, Saturday the 9th, in Tout Quarry, this time a single butterfly that just appeared on the path below me as if by magic.

And the third, on Sunday 10th, once again appeared as if conjured up out of thin air, this time on the grass below the National Coastwatch building near the coastal path that runs along Portland’s west cliffs.

The one time I actually went looking for Small blues, and spent two hours walking almost every small path through the Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, where these butterflies are supposed to live, I saw none. Which only made me even more grateful to have experienced the previous three totally unexpected sightings.

133/365 Birding on Salisbury Plain

13 Monday May 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, insects, nature

≈ Comments Off on 133/365 Birding on Salisbury Plain

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday’s Glamorgan Bird Club trip to Salisbury Plain, RSPB Winterbourne Downs and Martin Down National Nature Reserve was amazing. The weather was stunning, the bird sightings were brilliant, as were the butterflies, and, as always, the company was wonderful.

190513 Salisbury (1)

The views from high on Salisbury Plain were lovely – we even had a distant view of the White Horse, though it was a little disconcerting being so close to the military impact area and to have the serenading of the plentiful skylarks occasionally shattered by the booms of exploding shells. The joy-riding trailbikers and off-roaders weren’t exactly peaceful either.

190513 great bustard

Still, we saw some amazing birds – I managed to spot the only Great bustard of the day (you’ll just have to believe me when I say that the head in the centre of the dip in the vegetation in the photo above is definitely a Great bustard!) and we had splendid ’scope sightings of Stone curlews and chicks at Winterbourne – both bird sightings were lifers for me. My best bird photo of the day was the Corn bunting shown below – captured out of the car window as we drove by.

190513 corn bunting

We also enjoyed some superb butterfly sightings – my first Small blues and Brown Argus for the year, and, finishing on a high, my first ever (two) Marsh fritillaries at Martin Down.

190513 marsh fritillary

Small and blue

27 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in insects, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Nine days ago, when I was staying with my friend Jill in East Sussex, we decided to re-enact a walk we had done on 12 May 2017, a wildlife walk led by Michael Blencowe of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, an expert lepidopterist and co-author of The Butterflies of Sussex.

180727 May 2017

May 2017, looking from Hope Bottom on Seaford Head towards the Seven Sisters

On that previous occasion the day was cool, windy and sometimes wet so we didn’t see any butterflies. This time Britain was in the grip of a scorching heatwave so it was almost too hot and dry for butterflies….

180727 July 2018

I didn’t quite match the framing but this is the same view in July 2017

Almost, but not quite. As luck would have it, I managed to spot two more new butterflies this day, and I almost missed the first as it was so tiny. This is the very appropriately named Small blue (Cupido minimus), Britain’s smallest butterfly and one that is becoming increasingly scarce.

180727 Small blue (2)

These lovelies are often found in small colonies, in areas of scrub and grassland near where their food plant grows. I don’t recall seeing any Kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) during our walk through the Seaford Head Local Nature Reserve but, luckily for the Small blue and for me, it must have been there.

180727 Small blue (1)