Thursday 31st July 2025.
The thunderstorms certainly arrived, but not till late in the afternoon when it absolutely tipped down with rain. Strangely, there was no lightning, though my dogs were not keen on all that thunder! Late this morning, I took the dogs over to Highland Road Cemetery and though it was a bit quiet regarding the birds there, the butterflies present did not disappoint.
Highland Road Cemetery, Southsea:
There was very little bird life today within the Cemy, with possibly only around 6 or 7 species actually seen during the hour I was there. This included a distant Robin and a male Blackbird, but I did hear the Green Woodpecker calling a couple of times and a Willowchiff calling quietly deep within vegetation.
It was the butterflies here that caught my eye with several Common Blue’s seen and showing well on the short grass and while watching one particular male Common Blue on the grass, a pair of small butterflies were chasing each other at speed and after some 20 seconds or so, it turned out to be a pair of male Small Coppers! Not a bad species to be seen here within the Cemy.
Other butterflies present included several Large White’s that were enjoying the flowering Buddleia, good numbers of both Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper and just the one Red Admiral. There were a lot of flowering Buddleia throughout the Cemetery and I was hoping for a lot more butterflies around. I did find a Jersey Tiger moth that settled very briefly on the Mausoleum, but it would not settle long enough for a photo, but the moth flew around at speed and then flew off.
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