A Butterfly Quest in Somerset and Dorset

21/22 June 2023

I meant to write about this adventure last year! Hmm! It's almost been a year since I spent these special few days over in Somerset and Dorset. Well, better late than never, right?

In April of last year, I completed my quest to see all the butterfly species in Sussex and what an amazing journey that was (Discovering Butterflies of Sussex Part 1). It was inevitable that following that, the next challenge would begin - seeing all the butterfly species within the UK - even though I really wanted to just enjoy what I'd accomplished at that point. However, realising it would take several years to achieve this goal alongside my existing work commitments, it seemed wise to start straight away. My partner, Bob, who I met whilst looking for Brown Hairstreaks a few years ago, was eager to share the experience with me, even though it was a quest he'd already achieved. It's been lovely sharing the experience with him and of course, I've been benefitting from his wealth of knowledge too.

The logical starting point was seeing species found close to Sussex, which meant a trek to Martin Down first, to see the Marsh Fritillary. What a day we had! (A Day Trip to Wiltshire). Next up was supposed to be the Heath Fritillary in Kent. But, things didn’t fall into place for that, so we'll have to wait another year for that adventure. However, we did manage two lovely days away in Somerset for the Large Blue and Dorset for the Lulworth Skipper. It also just happened to be our first romantic trip away!

We broke up our journey to Somerset with a stop at Blandford Forum for a few hours. It was very hot and sunny! There was no sign of any otters, but we enjoyed seeing a Kingfisher fly-by a few times and watching the insects. A Beautiful China-mark moth was seen on the reeds at the edge of the river. Banded Demoiselle's were also seen flying close above the water near the weir. I always enjoy the challenge of trying to photograph moving insects. I was quite pleased with one photo of a male, especially as I wasn't that close to it.

Later, we stopped for a while beside a small pond. I enjoyed watching some female Azure Damselflies laying their eggs in the water. It looks so odd seeing the male still attached to the female - he has claspers at the base of his abdomen, which fix on to the front portion of the female's thorax. I imagine it's to make sure some other male doesn't come along and attempt to mate with the female. There was also a Hairy Dragonfly patrolling the pond. It kept coming tantalisingly close to us, but it moved too quickly for me to capture a photo. It was never still long enough for me to focus on. Oh well! You can't win them all!

From there we drove on to Somerset for the Large Blue. After dropping our things off at the pub where we were staying, we ventured on to the National Nature Reserve where this species (and others) can be found. It was quite late in their flying season, so we knew they wouldn't be very fresh, but this didn't bother me. For a first time visit, I was happy with whatever I could find. Bob had only seen them twice before himself, so he was just as keen as me to see this lovely blue species again.

The amazing thing is, the Large Blue went extinct in Britain in 1979. We're only able to see them now as a result of a successful reintroduction programme following years of research, monitoring and planning, and recreating suitable conditions on former sites. This species has a remarkable relationship with a very specific ant species, Myrmica sabuleti, so it's success only comes after making sure the ants are also found in high enough densities. You can read more about it from one of the scientists involved in the work, in The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington.

We arrived late in the afternoon and it was still very hot. Since it was mid-week, it was fairly quiet – just how we like it. After walking uphill, following a footpath alongside a field margin, we continued along the path within the reserve with a tall hedgerow on our right. The shade it provided from the heat of the sun was a welcome relief. Along here, I was delighted to see my first Ringlet of the year. It's a species I’m particularly fond of with it's chocolate brown wings and elegant rings.

Just as we neared the end of the path, where it opens out onto the hillside at the top of the slope, Bob said my challenge is to find a Large Blue. I was already wondering to myself how long it would take before I saw one. Within less than a minute, a tantalising flap of blue wings flitted past me. That was easy! As its name suggests, it was noticeably larger than our other blue species in the UK. Unfortunately, it disappeared out of sight pretty quickly. But, it made me smile. The pressure was off. Now to find more and get photographic evidence!

Within 10 minutes I'd seen a few more, including this male persuing a female. Both were looking far from their best! Although they're not fresh, it's good to notice the differences in colour and black forewing spots.

I carefully zigzagged my way down the slope and within 20 minutes of our arrival, I saw a female egg laying on the Wild Thyme. I was thrilled, though it wasn't so easy to photograph her. She was gone in a flash. But, I peered into the flowerhead and could see the egg well tucked away (can you spot it in the photo?). Thankfully, it wasn't the only female I saw egg laying. In the photo below you can see the female curling her abdomen to deposit an egg. Interestingly, it doesn't look like Wild Thyme though!

The best moment of the afternoon came soon after, when a female landed on a Thistle and stayed there for almost 10 minutes, posing with her wings shut. Both of us were able to take several photos from both sides. I was so excited and very grateful she didn't fly off too quickly. She even was kind enough to open up her wings and allow me to appreciate the thicker dark wing margin and the heavier black spots that the females possess. She was a beauty.

We spent a total of three hours meandering across the reserve, exploring as much as we could. At times we walked together, and sometimes we split up, finding our own way across the escarpment. We remained in close proximity to each other, in case either of us had a particularly good find. It was lovely having the quiet time to just enjoy searching and photographing whatever we were drawn to. Whilst our eyes were mostly focused lower to the ground, Bob spotted a couple of Hobbies fly overhead, which was fabulous. I'd probably only seen this striking bird of prey twice before, so I was thrilled.

Closer to the ground, other butterfly species we saw that day were Marbled White, Small Skipper and a lovely Small Tortoiseshell (photo) with its wings wide open. The orange of its wings were hard to miss. We both spotted several moths too, mostly the tiny Pyrausta purpuralis and a few Crescent Plume moths (photo). Their long thin wings look so different to moths I've seen before. I found them quite intriguing and unusual. Moth species are so varied.

We also saw a Ruddy Darter dragonfly and a White-legged damselfly (photo). I love the way it's peering up at me.

As the afternoon gave way to the evening we were hoping to find some roosting Large Blues. Unfortunately, we weren't successful, however, I did enjoy spending a little time with this one in the lovely soft light. We were able to leave happy with what we'd seen, knowing we'd be back in the morning for more fun on the hillside.

Hot and tired, we retreated to the pub where we were staying. All afternoon and evening I had my trousers tucked in to my socks to make sure no ticks found their way to my skin. Thankfully, I was tick-free! We enjoyed a delicious evening meal indoors, then afterwards, we sat outside as it was still warm enough. I love warm summer evenings, when we get them. When it cooled down sufficiently to tempt us back indoors, we rounded off the evening listening to a local folk group. The room was very cosy with its low ceiling and seating packed close to the musicians. There weren't more than 25 people in the room, and about 10 of those were the players.

The following morning, we wanted to be there before the sun was shining on the slope, in the hope of finding some roosting butterflies. But sadly, we didn’t time it quite right. The early cloud cover cleared quicker than expected and the butterflies were already on the wing. Once again, we virtually had the place to ourselves. A few other people turned up, but they either didn’t stay long, or moved out of sight.

At first, the Large Blues were being elusive, but we were kept busy and entertained by the other insects. We saw an Acronicta rumicis moth caterpillar munching on a leaf (photo). Spotting caterpillars is new for me, and I find it quite exciting when I do. Thankfully, I'm with someone who knows a lot about them, so I'm learning all the time.

Soon after, we were distracted by a pair of mating Marbled Whites. We were photographing them for quite some time, trying to get the best angle. They were on the side of a small mound of grass, but it was so close to some scrub, there wasn't much room to lay down low to photograph them. I love the wing patterning of this butterfly. The underside is just as gorgeous as the upperwing. Seeing them together makes it really easy to see the subtle differences in their colour between the sexes. The female is on the left, the slightly creamier of the two.

From there, we gradually worked our way along to the furthest part of the reserve and then started to head back. That was when we started spotting a handful of male Large Blues flying close to the ground at various points. Loving a challenge, once again I wanted to see if I could get some half decent flying shots. I spent quite a bit of time doing this and took A LOT of photos - most of which were deleted! But, I was quite pleased with this one, despite it being a very tatty one.

Towards the end of the morning we were ready to move on to Lulworth Cove. Just as we were about to walk along the path at the top of the hill to leave the reserve, Bob spotted this cricket on the fence - a type of Conehead Cricket with an amazingly long antennae!

Lulworth Cove was familiar to me, having visited a few times before, but never to look for butterflies. It was surprisingly busy considering it was mid-week and not in the school holidays, but of course, it is a popular tourist spot. Bob pointed to Bindon Hill that dominated the northern side of the cove, thinking that it would be a good place to find Lulworth Skippers. He was sure there’d been some sightings there in the past. It was a lot steeper and higher than the nature reserve in Dorset we’d just come from and I didn’t relish the prospect of walking up there. Thankfully, it was time for lunch, so instead, we headed to Stair Hole, just west of the cove and not far from the car park.

It didn’t take long, walking along the paths there, before we spotted some Skippers flying. The question was, would they sit still long enough for us to identify if they were the Lulworth or Small Skipper? Yay! Some did and we had success straight away. Though there were quite a few Small Skippers too, which really confused me to start with. It didn't help when these small butterflies landed in amongst the vegetation, as I couldn't see them clearly, plus we were on a steep incline at times, so that was tricky to navigate too.

The Lulworth Skippers are a darker orange than the Small Skippers and also smaller than them too, which is a little confusing considering their name. The Lulworth Skipper's flight was quite distinctive, their wings were fluttering fast and they were staying low in amongst the tall grass.

I forgot about lunch for a while. I was thrilled we were seeing the Lulworth Skippers so early on in our visit. More to the point, I was glad we didn't need to walk up that massive hill! There were a good number of them in a relatively small area, so we had plenty of opportunities to photograph them. Bob was taking several photos too as he’d only seen them once before. We were both in our element. At one point we saw two together – a male was trying to impress a female. I was so eager to capture the action, even though it was tricky. The female is on the left in both photos - notice the light orange 'sun-ray'.

At one point, I found a gorgeous fresh male and sat down in the grass to take some photos. When I was finished, Bob followed suit. It was very accommodating that it didn't fly off, so we both had ample opportunity to photograph it. When I stood up, I noticed lots of black specks on the bottom of my trousers. They were miniscule - too small to be ticks, I thought. Whatever they were, they weren't staying! I brushed them off!

Following our earlier efforts, which hadn't gleaned such great results, it was wonderful to photograph the butterflies up close and more easily. I was finding lots of females and really able to appreciate the 'sun-ray' on their wings. This particular female was fabulous to photograph.

I enjoyed experimenting, photographing her from different angles. The 'sun-ray' was even more obvious when she was backlit. I also love the photo of her as she is looking up the blade of grass towards me.

It was amazing to see so many roosting together. In one tiny area, I counted 10. There were several communal spots like it.

It was a very successful afternoon. In fact, it had been a fabulous short break having success seeing both species. Before heading home we celebrated with a lovely ice cream.

There was only one downside to our wonderful two day adventure – the ticks! Despite being careful, tucking clothing in, we weren't careful enough. Walking through the tall grass we were like magnets to them. We thought we'd been thorough in brushing them off. We even checked each other out when we were back at the car and in the evening. It wasn't until the next morning when I woke up and saw a reddish area on my stomach, around a little black speck, that I realised I hadn't escaped them after all. Argh! Immediately we undertook a further tick inspection – only this time wearing our glasses!!! We both had quite a few, though I won the competition of who had the most, by 11-5. Needless to say, we’ve become experts at removing them. The really tiny ones weren't easy to remove, but we successfully got rid of them all. Thankfully, none of them have proven to be of concern (Lyme Disease). I’ll be even more careful next time. Maybe I should invest in a skin tight cat suit!

Thankfully, the ticks didn't ruin our otherwise fabulous butterfly foray!