Hi Everyone Watching the re-appearance of the Large Blue butterflies on Collard Hill again this summer has been really enjoyable.  These are fabulous butterflies that I hope more and more of us in the UK will be able to see in future.  For now the Collard Hill population of Large Blues is still one of just a handful in the country, part of conservation efforts to try to bring them back to a much better number in future. The gorgeous dark blue patterned wings of the Large Blues started to be seen again by us on the 12th of June this year, which was a full 2 weeks later in the year th ..read more

We’ve had to pick and choose our moments to walk the transects this week because of ongoing rainy spells.  That has increased the chances of us being on the hill at a time when Large Blues would be on the wing and we have enjoyed seeing them.  It’s exciting to know that we are now approaching their normal peak emergence time in late June.  On the weekend Large Blues were around, most often around Collard Hill’s Eastern slopes.  During a pretty quiet transect walk on Monday afternoon Susie was the first to spot this very nicely patterned Large Blue hanging upside down on gra ..read more

Sun and rain have been alternating on Collard Hill over the past few days and since Monday we’ve walked the butterfly transect twice.  When the winds have calmed and the sun has found its way through the clouds, we’ve had some great sightings of our beautiful Large Blues, showing that they are indeed very resilient. We’re social creatures and at a time when we don’t have so many walkers and visitors to the hill, Susie and I have felt perhaps an even stronger bond between us and the plants and animals who live alongside us.  We’ve been in awe of Large blues who have cleverly found hi ..read more

So, here we go!  It’s official the 20th generation of Large Blues on Collard Hill have arrived!  Last weekend saw the first Large Blue butterflies emerge from the ant nests (myrmica subuleti) under the ground where they’ve been kept safe during that very wet and windy winter of 2019/20.   I’m sure I don’t need to tell you avid readers that the Large Blue Butterfly Species Recovery Project has been working now for 20 years at Collard Hill, using expert conservation methods to care for the land in a way that will help pull this butterfly species back to healthy numbers in the ..read more

By way of a first report Susie and I have worked on this overview.  We’re really excited to be Large Blue volunteer rangers for the National Trust this summer.  I’m James, a furloughed Membership Manager for RSPB in Somerset & Dorset and I have a background in zoology and nature conservation. Susie is a plant enthusiast, very keen walker and explorer and still working through the Covid-19 lockdown as a Social Worker. Susie and I have been using any exercise time we can get within the government guidelines to go walking and exploring the footpaths and hills around our new hom ..read more

Welcome to the first blog entry of 2020, which brings with it some changes to the norm. No reader will have failed to notice the fact that this spring has been exceptional. The arrival and subsequent impacts of coronavirus has meant that everyone, National Trust included, has been locked down and limited in our responses to developing situations. As such, we have been unable to recruit a dedicated large blue butterfly volunteer this year, mainly due to the uncertainty around how the situation would develop. This is not, however, the end of the story, as two locals from Compton Dundon for whom ..read more

My six weeks of being large blue ranger is now over, it’s gone so quickly and I’ve had the best time; it was the perfect job to do after a stressful final year of uni! Collard Hill has been a lovely place to be for a few weeks and I have seen plenty of butterflies and other creatures during my time up there. It has been a pleasure to spend so much time with the large blues and to have the opportunity to photograph them and really get to know the species. I have managed to photograph a lot of different stages of the season, including mating pairs, egg-laying females and the eggs themselves ..read more

No large blues again today, which wasn’t unexpected! However, Collard keeps me busy with other creatures to find; the hill is a surprisingly good place for dragonflies and damselflies considering how far it is from any significant water body. I’ve had Emperor, Broad-bodied chaser, black-tailed skimmer, ruddy darter and brown hawker dragonflies and a lot of common blue damselflies. The brown hawker dragonfly was lovely to see today, it doesn’t seem to have very many records in Somerset, but may be another one of our Odonata species that is expanding its range. The best find of today however, go ..read more

I had no large blues again today, suggesting their season is over and done with unfortunately; but their eggs are getting ready to hatch and caterpillars are munching away at the thyme preparing for next year when they’ll emerge and once more grace us with their presence! It wasn’t a great day for butterflies in general, it was cloudy and cool for most of the day with the sun only making an appearance later in the afternoon. I did have a few finds today though, including a variety of as yet unidentified Nomada bees, which are cleptoparasites of other bee species and often mistaken for wasps. T ..read more

It was another great summer’s day up on Collard Hill, although try as I might I couldn’t find any large blues! It was a reasonably cloudy day however, so any stragglers might have been hiding away waiting for some sun. Other butterflies are on the up however, gatekeepers have boomed in the past couple of days, the ringlets are still numerous and fresh second brood common blue and brown argus butterflies are everywhere. I keep checking the small skippers on the off chance one will be an Essex skipper, but so far all I’ve seen have been small! Large skippers are still around too, and occasional ..read more