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Silver-studded Blue
This is the iconic blue of the New Forest heathland, and there are currently two large colonies on my Latchmore route, and numbers appear to be increasing. It emerges in June, in large numbers around stands of mature heather. Despite being notoriously localised in defined colonies, individuals do turn up scattered across much of the heath. A third colony, on heather at the base of the mire in Section 8 of the route, was thriving in 2015, but has since disappeared. Numbers have appeared to be growing in recent years, until a dramatic reversal in 2022.
total seen
maxima
first seen
last seen
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
... the stats box
297 92 8th June 29th July
617 189 23rd June 25th August
913 303 29th May 12th August
758 234 22nd June 29th July
429 129 18th June 2nd August
207 68 16th June 13th August
69 30 5th July 26th August
213 88 19th June 7th August