Chalk pit reserve

Another working Sunday, but this time in a disused chalk pit in Bedfordshire, managed by the Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve. Houghton Regis Chalk Pit is a fabulous site - a huge void with areas of species-rich chalk grassland, a clear chalk stream, shallow pools and a deeper marl lake, fen vegetation and willow carr.This view reminded me of a coastal inlet, maybe on the coast of Croatia!

I was recording the plants - lots of wonderful species including extensive carpets of horseshoe vetch, which smelt so sweet. I don't think I've ever seen enough before to notice it's scent. There was also kidney vetch, heaps of common spotted orchids (not yet out) and a scatter of twayblades.

A south facing bank was particularly spectacular, and was home to a very sizable colony of small blue butterflies. I managed to get some decent images, and one of these nearly made the blip spot, but I felt perhaps my pictures had been a bit biased towards insects lately!

The male small blue has a scatter of bluish scales on its wings, but the female is completely devoid of these, and can appear almost black. The underside is rather like that of a holly blue, with no orange whatsoever.

This is our smallest resident butterfly with a wing span that can be a little as 16mm. This butterfly has a large distribution, being found from northern Scotland to the south of England, with colonies also in Wales and Ireland, but it is never common. Outside of its strongholds in the south of England, colonies are often isolated pockets, typically in coastal locations. Most colonies consist of less than 30 adults, although a few colonies consist of thousands of adults.