Birdwatcher’s Diary No.333

Published on: 18 Aug, 2025
Updated on: 18 Aug, 2025

By Malcolm Fincham

After a brief spell of low pressure across the UK during the latter weeks of July, a plume of high pressure once again pushed up from southern Europe.

It brought another dry, settled spell to most throughout the Home Counties, with daytime temperatures into the high 20s Celsius for the most part during the first weeks of August.

Gatekeeper butterfly in my garden.

Although loving the sunshine perhaps more than the heat of it loves me, I was eventually encouraged by the annual visit of a gatekeeper butterfly outside my back door.

Starling visiting the feeding station in my garden.

Plus the daily visits of starlings and house sparrows on my garden feeding station.

It inspired and lured me to further adventures in the local countryside for what else I might discover. And attempting to take the best photographs of any wildlife that allowed.

A return to Bookham Common on August 2 allowed me to get what was just my second sighting of one of the recently emerging brown hairstreak butterflies.

Brown hairstreak, Bookham Common.

On this occasion getting a slightly better photo than my previous one there.

My main objective was to once again exceed the 40 species of butterflies that can realistically be found within the county of Surrey.

Denbies Hillside, near Dorking.

This time of the year a few silver-spotted skipper butterflies begin to emerge on a some selective south-facing chalk downland. It took several trips to Denbies Hillside on Ranmore Common (mostly in the company of Bob and Dougal) to surpass what was my 40th species of butterfly seen within Surrey this year.

This was on August 9 after an extensive transect across the hillside on a hot but breezy afternoon.

Silver-spotted skipper butterfly, Denbies Hillside.

Although seeing several ‘probables’ as they took flight, it was down to Bob to eventually find one of these elusive and fast moving silver-spotted skippers that settled long enough to photo.

Previous photo of a clouded yellow butterfly.

Also having an encounter there with my first migrant clouded yellow this year, although it flew past too rapidly to photo, but thus bringing my Surrey count this year to 41 species.

Chalkhill blues, (female on right) mating.

Chalkhill blue butterflies were still present, although now starting to dwindle in number since previous visits, with some seen mating to complete their life cycle.

Adonis blue butterflies mating, Denbies Hillside.

Adonis blue butterflies were also present on their second brood of the year, some also now mating.

Brown argus butterfly, Denbies Hillside.

A few brown argus butterflies could still be found.

Common blue, (female). This one seen on Pewley Down.

While similar looking female common blues were still present.

Common blue butterfly.

As well as the easier to recognise male common blues.

Slow worm, Denbies Hillside.

And a slow worm added to the day’s reptile list.

Robin returning to song.

On August 8 I heard my first robin back in song. Alas just a few notes from its full repertoire, while several others could be heard at various locations I visited – ‘tuning-up’ during the days leading to the middle of the month.

Kestrel, Pewley Down.

On several visits to Pewley Down a kestrel could be viewed hunting along the hillside.

Red kite.

While on a few occasions, although mostly distant and over the Chantries, red kites could be seen.

Raven.

On one occasion a raven made an appearance overhead.

Peregrine falcon, Pewley Down.

While on the north side of the downs a peregrine falcon briefly circled overhead.

Chalkhill blue butterfly, Pewley Down.

Although the early emergence of chalkhill blues I had reported during the first weeks of July hadn’t amounted into great numbers, a reasonable show of them could still be found along the southern slopes of the hillside.

Adonis blue butterfly, Pewley Down.

More impressive to me were the number of Adonis blue butterflies, counting more than a couple of dozen on my transect along the south-facing slopes.

Many of the regularly seen butterflies had already started to dwindle in number as they came to the end of their life cycle, having been brought out early this year by the long spells of warm, dry weather.

Small heath, Pewley Down.

Numerous small heath butterflies could still be found.

Large white butterfly, Pewley Down.

A large white butterfly.

Red admiral butterfly.

And red admiral butterflies still on the wing.

Clouded yellow butterfly, Pewley Down.

A bonus to our sightings on the lower slopes of the hillside was Bob finding a clouded yellow butterfly – a first this year for Bob and Dougal (and a second for me).

Hummingbird hawk-moth, Pewley Down.

While also for me, my first hummingbird hawk-moth of the year hovering low across the grassland.

Painted lady butterfly.

And another sighting of a painted lady butterfly.

Cattle grazing on Whitmoor Common.

At Whitmoor Common on August 15, several small copper butterflies could still be found resting on the heather, still in flower.

Small copper butterfly.

This species of butterfly seems to have had an exceptionally good year compared to recent years and seeing them on most habitats I visited.

Chiffchaff.

Numerous chiffchaffs could be heard making their contact calls about the heathland.

Stonechat, (female), on flowering heather, Whitmoor Common.

While families of stonechats could be observed, often seen perched up on the heather and gorse.

Juvenile stonechat, Whitmoor Common.

With their juveniles still close by.

Dartford warbler, Whitmoor Common.

Dartford warblers seemed to have had another good year there too. Although mostly silent at present, but often seen flitting low across the heather or perched up in a silver birch shrub.