More from Watlington Hill

Following my last post which featured the magnificent Red Kites at the very beautiful location of Watlington Hill (which I have seen described as a 'dreamscape') I thought I would share with you what else I saw there. I realise now that one visit to this lovely place does not do it justice at all, at the very least I should have devoted one visit to the Red Kite and another separate visit to butterflies. In actual fact this is a place of such interest that many visits are necessary to see just some of what it has to offer. We will definitely go back there many times in the future as I feel I have hardly 'touched the surface'.

'And autumn tells of joys that fly;
And summer's charms in languor die:
If ye would have all hope would bring,
Take the first morn of early spring!
If ye would warm your life-blood chill,
Go course on Watlington's fair hill!'

(Mary Russell Mitford)

Watlington Hill is a magnificent area of chalk downland. It is a wildlife site of national importance and home to a large collection of wild flowers, butterflies, birds, mosses, lichens and fungi, many of them rare or scarce. The short chalk, grassland turf was originally created by sheep grazing but is now maintained by rabbits. Ant-hills, some of which are quite ancient, lend additional interest and areas of woodland and scrub complete the scene. The whole area is a protected 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' and owned by the National Trust. Incidentally, on one of our days out recently we decided to join the National Trust but were slightly concerned that we might not make enough visits to their properties over the next twelve months to justify the annual charge. Well, this place has no charge but we both said the pleasure we obtained from Watlington Hill more than justified our membership fee.


So, the other reason, apart from seeing the magnificent Red Kites, I wanted to visit this special place was to see the butterflies of which there are an abundance, indeed the National Trust's butterfly expert Matthew Oates has 'butterflied' at Watlington Hill almost every year since 1967 and spotted his first ever Silver-spotted Skippers there. As I mentioned before we really needed a separate visit just to see them. Butterflies commonly seen there include the Green Hairstreak, Brown Argus, Marbled White, Small Blue and Brimstones. There have also been sightings of the Chalkhill Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Grizzled Skipper and Dingy Skipper. There is also a large colony of the rare Silver-spotted Skipper. Also, Yellow Ants are a rare species to be found there. Due to the limited time we had to study the butterflies we only saw a few of what Watlington Hill has to offer. Given the amazing influx of the Painted Lady butterfly in the UK this year it was not surprising to see them there.



It has been heartening this year to see more of the Small Tortoiseshell which has been struggling to survive in recent years.



The next two are

Meadow Brown Butterfly

This is the lovely

Brimstone Butterfly

The next one is too, I did wonder if it was the Clouded Yellow at first but it is just the way the light is falling on a Brimstone, I do think it looks beautiful.



Now, the next ones I have a problem with. Where I live if I see a blue butterfly, which isn't very often, I can be pretty sure it is the Common Blue but in an area where other blues can be seen I find it very confusing to identify them. I am fairly sure all the following butterflies are, indeed, Common Blues, both male and female but if I am wrong I'm sure someone will be able to put me right.

EDIT: Thanks to the extremely knowledgeable Greenie I now know all the following butterflies are Common Blue other than where specified. Thank you very much for that Greenie and also for confirming the Meadow Browns and the second Brimstone.

Male (bottom) and female Common Blue

As you can see some are rather the worse for wear!

Brown Argus (female)

Brown Argus (female, top) Common Blue (bottom)


'I love not man the less,
but nature more.'

(Lord Byron)

(probably) Brown Argus

Common Blue (male)


'I love all beauteous things,
I seek and adore them.'

(Robert Bridges)

Common Blue (male)

Common Blue (female)

An interesting find of a different kind was this ancient sunken trackway which was recently restored by volunteers principally to relieve a path where the rare chalk-land grass habitat was being eroded. This restored trackway would once have been the main road!

'And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.'

(Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Apart from butterflies we saw this

Lesser? Treble-Bar Moth

and this

Marmalade Fly

Well, I still haven't shown you all we saw at Watlington Hill and I definitely haven't seen all there is to see at this beautiful place which is why I will be going back next year, there are rare flowers to see, Muntjac Deer and all sorts of other goodies but I will leave you with a butterfly which I was thrilled to see and which is very rare in the UK and restricted to chalk downland in southern England.

Silver-spotted Skipper

I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the delights of this beautiful place, it has been a pleasure to show them to you.