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| List: Carolina-Leps Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2026 15:08:02 +0000 From: Will Stuart (via carolinaleps Mailing List) <carolinaleps...> Subject: Carolina Sandhills NWR, Chesterfield County, SC - 03-07-2026 |
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--_000_SJ2PR13MB6529D8465349B2397E0DAE7AD478ASJ2PR13MB6529namp_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I visited the Carolina Sandhills NWR for a half-day on 3/7/2026 under clearing and partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70's, a perfect spring afternoon. As I entered the refuge along Route 1, I immediately spotted blossoms on roadside Vaccinium attracting a half-dozen Southeastern Blueberry Bees, always a good sign spring has arrived. It turned out to be a productive day, I headed directly to a compartment with a concentrated area of Pixie Moss that has been home to a colony of Brown Elfins for the last decade or so. This compartment was thinned in the 2024-2025 winter and was a mess last spring. I had visited the compartment several times in recent weeks and found good quantities of Pixie Moss ready to blossom. Within minutes of arriving, I spotted a flying Brown Elfin and a nearby Great Purple Hairstreak on a patch of Pixie Moss. Over the next half-hour I had a half-dozen Brown Elfin sightings, all in a small area, but never 2 at the same time and never 2 chasing one another, a very common occurrence in this spot in previous years. I did not stay long because I wanted to visit several areas of Chickasaw Plum. I flound the plum in early stages of blossoming but the first patch produced a Buckeye and the 2nd another Buckeye plus an FOY American Lady. Brown Elfin FOY On Pixie Moss 2 (?) Great Purple Hairstreak FOY On Pixie Moss 1 Sleepy Orange Fly-by 1 Azure sp. (Likely Holly) In a streamhead 1 American Lady FOY In Chickasaw Plum 1 Common Buckeye FOY In Chickasaw Plum 2 Will Stuart Matthews, NC --_000_SJ2PR13MB6529D8465349B2397E0DAE7AD478ASJ2PR13MB6529namp_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style> </head> <body dir="ltr"> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> I visited the Carolina Sandhills NWR for a half-day on 3/7/2026 under clearing and partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70's, a perfect spring afternoon. As I entered the refuge along Route 1, I immediately spotted blossoms on roadside Vaccinium attracting a half-dozen Southeastern Blueberry Bees, always a good sign spring has arrived. It turned out to be a productive day, </div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> I headed directly to a compartment with a concentrated area of Pixie Moss that has been home to a colony of Brown Elfins for the last decade or so. This compartment was thinned in the 2024-2025 winter and was a mess last spring. I had visited the compartment several times in recent weeks and found good quantities of Pixie Moss ready to blossom. Within minutes of arriving, I spotted a flying Brown Elfin and a nearby Great Purple Hairstreak on a patch of Pixie Moss. Over the next half-hour I had a half-dozen Brown Elfin sightings, all in a small area, but never 2 at the same time and never 2 chasing one another, a very common occurrence in this spot in previous years. I did not stay long because I wanted to visit several areas of Chickasaw Plum. I flound the plum in early stages of blossoming but the first patch produced a Buckeye and the 2<sup>nd</sup> another Buckeye plus an FOY American Lady.</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> Brown Elfin FOY On Pixie Moss 2 (?)</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> Great Purple Hairstreak FOY On Pixie Moss 1</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> Sleepy Orange Fly-by 1</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> Azure sp. (Likely Holly) In a streamhead 1</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> <span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">American Lady FOY In Chickasaw Plum</span> 1</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> Common Buckeye FOY In Chickasaw Plum 2</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> Will Stuart</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> Matthews, NC</div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof"> <br> </div> </body> </html> --_000_SJ2PR13MB6529D8465349B2397E0DAE7AD478ASJ2PR13MB6529namp_-- |
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