Number 3 has beautiful eyebrows!

Great stuff Ben. No reason there to support a low 2023 egg-lay :wink:. I saw plenty of females at work long into July this year, so haven't been convinced by any such concerns. I really think you owe it to us all to go large just one more time. I need to see an image of a caterpillar named Dirk Digg...

Duke of Burgundy, Storrington 4.5.23

Long-tailed Blue, Lancing Ring 8.10.23

Long-tailed Blue, West Worthing allotments 28.9.23

This is the job https://uvbeast.com/products/uvbeast-new-v3-365nm-black-light-uv-flashlight-filtered-ultraviolet-rechargeable-18650-high-power-and-long-range-professional-grade-beam-best-for-professional-commercial-use-usa-stock Amazon used to sell it, but they're currently out-of-stock for an indet...

A further update below, with some projected emergence dates for those interested in tracking down fresh, UK-born individuals. So far, the species has behaved precisely as predicted, so I'm confident that we'll start to see some spectacular action if we get some decent weather this weekend. The first...

Thanks, Guy and David. David's earlier comment in this thread ("LTBs have been thin on the ground in the Alps & Pyrenees this last couple of weeks") hadn't worried me regarding my understanding of how events were unfolding, because I suspected that much of the population had already sh...

It is now clear that we're enjoying the largest ever invasion by the Long-tailed Blue. The species has been observed in every coastal county along the South Coast, from Cornwall to Kent. The progeny of an early wave (see below) took another step further inland than usual, being seen in Oxfordshire, ...

The main immigrant wave of Long-tailed Blue, which started on 15 August (following a more modest earlier influx), is still arriving, with an increase in the number of eggs being found in Sussex. A few days back, a friend found fresh (or relatively fresh) eggs at 12 different sites, so they’re far mo...

Events have unfolded very much as predicted. The early wave of LTB arrivals (making landfall in the last days of June and early July) has produced an atypically early crop of Sussex-born adults in early August, some of which have been seen mating (both male and female being pristine, e.g. Lancing Ri...

One seen and photographed by Celia Curtis in her Felpham (near Bognor) garden today (11 July). See BC Sussex Sightings Page.

Long-tailed Blue ALERT From the BC Sussex website (webmaster Martin Kalaher): Long-tailed Blue ALERT: I have received two messages which I am sure will be of great interest to the membership. The first as follows: "There are good numbers of LTB eggs in a number of private gardens in an East Su...

Thanks, David. Let's hope that Orange-tips stick around for many more weeks. Good to see you today, Paul - DM sent. You made a very comfy chaise longue - I should have asked Katrina to peel me a grape. Next time, you can lean on me. After a very enjoyable couple of hours at Springhead (aka Kithurst)...

Female LT released, after becoming trapped in (or after waking within) greenhouse at Hollingbury (Brighton) on 29 April by 'JB' - BC Sussex website.
BWs, Neil

17-22 April: Orange-tips Irrespective of where I've been working during the daytime, I've been making a point of stopping at one of my favourite Orange-tip sites for an hour, when en route to the Knepp Wildland to lead dusk safaris. This damp meadow at Wiston is only a ten-minute drive from Knepp, ...

No surprises as to why I was in Houghton Forest, Trevor and Paul. And I failed miserably, as I have in attempting to 'twitch' other Large Tortoiseshells this spring - on a further four sites! Needless to say, all of my searches elsewhere have also proved fruitless. This is, and has always been, a tr...

It's worth pointing out that the Large Tortoiseshell images posted from Horseshoe Plantation (Beachy Head) on 7 April (Danny McEvoy and Paul Stevens) and 6 April (James W) comprise at least two individuals (males). Also, a nice male in Abbot's Wood (Hailsham) on 7 April by Bob Eade and Lisa Saw - as...

Post-hibernators - At Last! It's been a long wait this late-winter/early-spring, but things finally started to kick-off at the start of April. On 2.4.23 I enjoyed my first decent show of Brimstone, with 31 males in Houghton Forest, together with 2 Red Admiral (including an egg-layer), 2 Peacock and...

Early 2023 I was busier than ever with conservation work over the last months of winter, with double the usual number of work parties on the BC Sussex reserves. There were too many volunteers involved to mention them all by name, but I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who turned up to giv...