Old Winchester Hill 3rd August

A sunny, but fairly windy afternoon. Highlights were Adonis Blue, Round-headed Rampion and Roesel’s Bush-cricket.

4 of us met at the car park of this wonderfully scenic area. The car park area is surrounded by scrub. One or two Greenfinch were calling here and at least one Chiffchaff was seen feeding low down in the scrub. Wild flowers were everywhere. The tall yellow flowered Wild Parsnip and the shorter Ragwort were both at the edges of the scrub and we found a few caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth on the Ragwort. At the edges of the scrub was a mix of taller chalk grassland flowers - Wild Parsnip, Wild Basil, Marjoram, Common Knapweed, Common Centaury and Perforate St. John’s-wort. A couple of Linnet flew over and we stopped to watch a Kestrel hovering close by being mobbed by some House Martins. We walked out of the scrub and along the path with shorter, flower rich grassland on either side of us. It was a colourful mix of purple Common Knapweed, Small Scabious, yellow Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Rough Hawkbit, Black Medick and Lady’s Bedstraw and white Eyebright, Fairy Flax, Hoary Plantain and Yarrow. We heard a Roesel’s Bush-cricket, quite a scarce species, buzzing in the grassy areas and eventually saw a couple. A Green Woodpecker flew by and a Yellowhammer sat on top of a bush for a while. Swallows had joined the House Martins in the air and at ground level many Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Peacock butterflies patrolled. We were pleased to see a couple of Chalkhill Blue in the grassland and David saw a Marbled White fly by. There were also a few Six-spot Burnet moths.
The path went past more scrubby areas and we saw Red Bartsia, Rosebay Willowherb, Great Mullein and Perennial Sow-thistle growing here. As the scrub opened out again the path went along a steep slope with typical chalk grassland flowers. There were many of the species we had already seen and Burnet Saxifrage, Field Madder, Hemp Agrimony and Wild Carrot. Travellers Joy covered some of the nearby bushes. Soon the path reached the hill fort with magnificent views all round. It was quite windy up there, but full of flowers and butterflies. Many Chalkhill Blue, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and a few Essex Skipper. We also saw one or two Small Copper and a couple of Fritillaries that were probably Dark Green Fritillary. The flora was even richer and more colourful than elsewhere. The flowers we had already seen being joined by Round-headed Rampion, Kidney Vetch, Greater Knapweed and a little Rest Harrow. We found a patch of Betony on top of the hill fort and a few Skylarks. Dennis found the only dragonfly of the day – Black-tailed Skimmer.
Simon Curson