Hampshire doings

I paid a visit to several areas around Butser Hill near Petersfield today and butterflies were very few and far between. Having explored some new areas that look very promising and found no dukes, it was very windy, I walked over the hill  to rake bottom where I had bumped into Matthew last week. The weather was deteriorating but I manged to track down just one male in a shetered hollow. Taking the opportunity to sit and watch with my binoculars for the next two hours i picked up some details of behaviour. No other males passed during this time although he did see off an Orange Tip that dared to venture too close - I would definitely feel that only a small proportion have emerged to date. The butterfly was seen nectaring on several flowers of Lesser Celandine and The photo shows a small fly of unknown species that was in attendance for about half an hour. It would perch at various locations, within about a centimetre, always facing the butterfly. Mark.

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