Well Worth the 'Long' Walk!

With news of 3 Long tailed Blue butterflies being seen in the last couple of days at Kingsdown Leas, near Dover I was very eager to get down and see them. Not only is this a very rare butterfly in the country but I have never seen one myself. There have been a couple of others reported in Sussex so it looks likely that there have been a few around. With a few good butterflies already seen this year on my visits around including Swallowtail and 3 Purple Emperor this would simply be the icing on the cake and so with this in mind I arrived at Bockhill by the monument this morning at 9am. The sun was shining nicely and with good spirits I made my way down the coast noting Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadown Brown and a few 'Whites'. After 20 minutes of walking I arrived in the area and could see a couple of others looking which would hopefully make the job of finding a small butterfly a little easier. As seems to be the way at the moment, I had only just arrived when one of the observers shouted that he had one. I was soon watching the first of 3 Long tailed Blue today as it warmed up in the sunshine. Making sure I noted the features of the butterfly the camera was soon called into some serious action getting a number of pleasing images of this little stunner.

Male Long tailed Blue 

 Male Long tailed Blue

Male Long tailed Blue

It soon moved off at speed and was lost to view but after more searching we found a worn female and another male. I then spent the next two and a half hours watching and photographing them as they flew around and fed happily with the occasional pair spiraling very high into the air before returning back.

Male Long tailed Blue 

Male Long tailed Blue 

Female Long tailed Blue

A few other observers appeared with one seeing a fourth individual not too far away, I wonder how many there actually are on the south coast at the moment? There were a very good back up list of species seen as well including Chalkhill Blue, 1 Brimstone, 1 Clouded Yellow, 4 Small Copper, 4 Wall Brown and a few Common Blues. I shall post a few shots of some of the species in the next few days. With a few shots in the bag I said my goodbyes and made my way back to the car. I thought the Swallowtail would be the last good butterfly of the year but today really does as mentioned put the icing on the cake. What a little beauty!

Male Long tailed Blue 

 Male Long tailed Blue

Male Long tailed Blue