chalk amongst the limestone

...a stunning blue summer's day, which meant we could stick to the plan, prepare a picnic and drive over to the Isle of Portland. It was a successful day and I captured many interesting things, but the thing I caught the most was the sun! Neither my nose nor my forehead are the colour they should be but I am definitely not complaining!!

After driving past the Olympic Village for the 2012 Sailing Events, we climbed the hill and parked on Verne Road. Dorset Wildlife Trust has an excellent reserve here, King Barrow Quarries and, adjacent, is the Victorian Verne High Angle Battery which, for a very short period at the end of the nineteenth century, formed part of the UK's coastal defences.

Last week, I promised (or maybe hoped) that I would get an image of a Chalkhill Blue as part of my Big Butterfly Count series. Portland is one of this species strongholds and I was delighted to find a good quantity about today. This, and in fact all those we saw, is a male and, for some reason, they were resting with wings folded, but I did manage to find this one with his wings open.

In addition to the Chalkhill Blues Polyommatus coridon, we saw plenty of Silver Studded Blue, Marbled White, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Ringlet, Small Skipper, Lulworth Skipper and Large Skipper. The area also supports a wide variety of interesting plants and there are still dozens of Pyramidal Orchids in great condition...