TL:DR – Late May and there are lots of tiny butterflies known as Small Blue at a local nature site, Magog Down, south of Cambridge.
It could have almost been a serenade to lepidopteral melancholy if I’d chosen to seek out butterflies at Trumpington Meadows* this morning, it’s not been a good season for butterflying there so far it seems, but instead it’s a celebration as I ended up counting dozens of Small Blue (Cupido minimus) at the equally serene but far more undulating Magog Down.
The site is almost opposite Wandlebury where Mrs Sciencebase reckons we may have seen one of the rare blue butterflies many years ago (perhaps a Chalk Hill or a Small).
I must confess, on arriving I was expecting to have to seek out tiny patches of Kidney Vetch among the Oxeye Daisy, Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) and other species across the acres. But, within a couple of yards of the gate, I spotted a couple of Small Blue on the ground and got a couple of record shots.
Walking on, it soon became obvious there were lots of Small Blue here, far more than I’d seen in 2022 on the Kidney Vetch patches at Trumpington Meadows. There was one cluster of the butterflies flitting about within a square foot patch and were not at all disturbed by my presence nor the endless clicking of the camera. Indeed, several landed on the camera, on the camera bag, on my legs, on my hands, and were happy to take part in a video shoot for my Instagram.
I spoke to Andrew Knights, one of the Magog Down butterfly recorders, who had just finished a transect count. He’d ticked 94 Small Blues on a small patch of the area over the course of an hour, which suggests that there are probably hundreds if not thousands overall. This was, he told me, well up on last year’s transect numbers (50-ish). It was an entirely happy coincidence that I was there at peak Small Blue! County Butterfly Recorder Ed Pollard, had messaged in to say numbers at Trumpington Meadows were still shockingly low this week.
I also saw lots of Holly Blue, Brimstone, Whites, several Small Heath, Brown Argus, possibly a Common Blue, and a Mother Shipton moth (pointed out by path-mower Nick Beale). Didn’t see any of the reported Green Hairstreak here. The site is well worth the visit and nice to get these kinds of blues when you’re on the down!
*At the height of summer, Trumpington Meadows is also wonderful for moths and butterflies: Marbled White, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Six-spot Burnet, Brassy Longhorn, Burnet Companion, Mother Shipton etc.