5th May 2025

Very much a record shot, but my first Small Blue butterfly of the year. This is a scarce butterfly in the Staple area. There has been a small colony of this species around the chalk pit at Lower Rowling for at least three years. It relies on a single larval food plant, Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria). This plant grows in a small field adjacent to the chalkpit and probably in the chalkpit itself.

Small Blue butterfly