A First Common Blue of the Year

 You know me when I'm at work, when the Tourettes tics become too much, when the ADHD demands movement, that I take 5 minutes to have a quick bimble outside, to see what's afoot on campus, to spy what's on the wing. 

On a patch of grass,where a few birds foot trefoil where to be found - a species that seems to have suffered horribly locally with the dry spring and summer - a low flying glimmer of blue caught my eye.

Creeping a little closer, and taking great care not to lose it as it flew, I saw the tan coloured spots on the wing that indicated the presence of a male common blue butterfly. 

It settled on one of the yellow blooms, and edging closer still, I was able to get a few shots - sadly not great ones - as it happily nectared away in the warm sunshine. 

Small, and rather lovely. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 25.07.25

A Final Common Blue Butterfly

 I was taking my usual lunchtime walk over our campus, on another very mild day, when my attention was taken by a small, bright shape on the ground. 

I've been keeping an eye out for fungi on my walks recently, as well, there isn't really a whole lot else to see at this time of year, but this was no toadstool. As I walked over I could see that it was a beautiful male common blue butterfly perched on a blade of grass. 

I thought the poor little chap was dead, but no, it was still just about alive although I don't fancy it had too much time left on this earth. It was in perfect condition, so wonder if it was perhaps a very late second flight imago that had grown up during the very mild autumn. 

As everyone knows, it has been a dismal year for butterflies. Last year there were brown argus all over campus, and I've not seen any this year. Holly blue and common blues have been barely present and only the high summer species like meadow brown and ringlet seem to have been around in reasonable numbers. 

To see this tired little butterfly, then, was both gratifying, and sad at the same time.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 29.10.24

Workplace Nature Catch Up

 The warm weather has not only brought bugs, buzzers and flowers out in the parks and gardens around the town, but also in our place of work, much to my delight.

Long term readers may remember that over the years, we have created wildflower mini-meadows at work, and also established a hundred metre stretch of uncut verge where he have had orchids in the past, and hopefully makes a space for insects to lay their eggs and find foodplants for their larvae. 

This had had a positive benefit, not only on increasing bio-diversity on campus, but also mental health. I find it wonderful to walk among the nature spaces I helped create, while planning where we can improve what we have. 

So lets see what we've had crawling and fluttering around the flowerbeds, starting with the first common blue I've seen this year. While the holly blues prefer the hedgerows, the common blue likes the low level flowers found elsewhere.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 26.05.23

The Common Blue on the Litter Pick

Been doing a bit of what I suppose counts both as work and community service today, organising a litter pick on public land adjoining work that a large number of our lazier co-workers think is a landfill for throwing away old cans of Red Bull and Relentless, and McDonalds coffee cups.

What is actually is, is a really good brownfield wildlife habitat, full of burnet moths, cinnabars, and the usual grassland butterflies. Kestrels fly over head, looking for rabbits although preferably fresher than the stinking maggot infested dead bunny I came across today and nearly trod in. Surprised the buzzards haven't taken it.

While fag packets and tin cans was the main harvest, soke odder things turned up as well. A car tire, a pair of socks on the A1 bridge. Several separate piles of stripy drinking straws.

We actually had proper litter picking sticks - very difficult to use of left handed FFS it's 2017 - and plastic bags that were impossible to keep open whenever the breeze got up, which meant I kept having to pick up packets of Polish Marlboro about three times before I could get them into the bags.

Luckily my colleagues were far more organised, and far less crap.We filled about 8 sacks up with stuff, and even I have to say the place looks far better. Why folk felt the need to take their socks off and leave them on a pedestrian bridge is beyond me however, although I appreciate the thoughtfulness of someone who decided to put their cans of Monster in a bin bag before throwing them down a bank.

Amid all the detritus, I spotted this smart male common blue, which eventually posed for a single photograph after having been very skittish before that. Perhaps it was scared of the enormous pincers my litter picker had!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 11.08.18