Mrs Chalky

I was very excited to go back to the nice slope where I found male Chalkhill Blue butterflies yesterday with a view to just possibly see a female. I was in the right company - Nick Bowles, the Chalkhill Blue Champion for the Upper Thames Region of Butterfly Conservation. We almost immediately saw 3 males and then found two females. We took one each and followed them as they moved between plants of marjoram, knapweed and wild basil, hoping to see either mating or egg-laying. We followed them for nearly 2 hours with little happening except a little nectaring and a lot of sun bathing. The males (up to 5 seen) didn't seem very interested, suggesting the females might already have been mated, but neither did they seem ready to lay any eggs. We had to give up, rather disappointed, but it was great to see evidence of the colony here getting stronger.