Just back from a short break down in West Sussex we were hoping to find Black Hairstreak ( a lifer for me !) ,Frog Orchid ,which I,ve only seen once before (in Kent) in1991(now presumably extinct !) , and Club -Tailed Dragonfly . The weather wasn,t kind ! but that said we did 0.K. On our way through on Tuesday we stopped off at Ditchling ,and more by luck than judgement stumbled across the hotspot ,there were three others looking and sure enough the Hairstreaks were showing , jinking about in the Blackthorn tops ,with a couple coming down briefly on to the Bracken ,I decided to walk away a few paces and look at a slightly different patch ,and immediately spotted ,what looked like a female Black Hair ,sitting tight ,as I got closer ,I could see that she was attached to a male ,couldn,t believe my luck ! called the others over ,and all had excellent views ,photography was a bit difficult ,as they were about two and a half metres up ,and the male was partially obscured by a Blackthorn leaf.
On the way home today we stopped again for an hour and had several sightings ,but they seemed reluctant to settle low down.
Bumped into Dave Cook (who found them ) and had a chat ,good to meet him !
Another site that I visited several times ,in the early mornings was Fairmile Bottom ,what a site !! Hundreds of Orchids ,mainly Common Spotted
but also good numbers of Pyramidal ,I also found Bee,Fly , and my target Frog ,so pleased to see these again ,I managed to find 8 ,but never re-visited
them ,as they,re so small and insignificant looking ,they seem to vanish in the grass ,and I was worried about treading on any.
lots of commoner butterflies on the wing (even at 7am ) my highlights were a beautiful fresh Dark Green Fritillary ,a very late Grizzled Skipper ,
I urge anyone that's down West Sussex way ,to drop into this superb reserve .
After making it to the car park twice ,and the weather turning to pouring rain ,we finally got things right at Stedham Common ,for the Silver Studs
yesterday,there were high numbers about ,and we had the good fortune to find a mating pair.
Regards Allan.W.