Neil Hulme

[Neil Hulme]

Sussex Pearls

Pearl-bordered Fritillary (PBF) is now flying on most of its Sussex sites (but definitely not all yet) and numbers are building rapidly at Rewell Wood. Yesterday (29 April) I visited Stansted Forest, where I reintroduced the species (BC Fritillaries for the Future project) in 2016. Despite unfavourable conditions (cool and cloudy), a small group of us managed to winkle out the first four PBF of the year here.

Over the next few weeks there are likely to be many visitors to all PBF sites, so I'd like to make my annual plea (particularly to photographers) to avoid walking over the breeding habitat, as seen in the image below. These are the areas over which the males will be constantly searching during good weather, for most of the day; they are also the areas where all the pupae, emerging adults and mating butterflies will be found, all of which are unable to escape footfall.

The best images are always obtained either early or late in the day, when the adults come to the herb-rich margins of coppice coupes and scallops to nectar on Bugle and other flowers. Chasing them across the breeding habitat in the heat of the day will never secure a decent image, but may do considerable damage at the most vulnerable time of the butterfly's life-cycle. Many thanks for your consideration, and please politely point this out to anyone you see causing excessive damage to the breeding habitat. All sites are being monitored, so please leave the thorough counting of the species to designated recorders.

[David M]

...Over the next few weeks there are likely to be many visitors to all PBF sites, so I'd like to make my annual plea (particularly to photographers) to avoid walking over the breeding habitat, as seen in the image below. These are the areas over which the males will be constantly searching during good weather, for most of the day; they are also the areas where all the pupae, emerging adults and mating butterflies will be found, all of which are unable to escape footfall.

The best images are always obtained either early or late in the day, when the adults come to the herb-rich margins of coppice coupes and scallops to nectar on Bugle and other flowers. Chasing them across the breeding habitat in the heat of the day will never secure a decent image, but may do considerable damage at the most vulnerable time of the butterfly's life-cycle. Many thanks for your consideration, and please politely point this out to anyone you see causing excessive damage to the breeding habitat.

Wise advice, Neil. These cool conditions also make the adults rather torpid when the clouds obscure the sun to the point where they can no longer fly or move quickly out of harm's way, something which was evident when I caught up with my nearest population this morning in temperatures of just 9c.

I hope people behave responsibly and the butterfly continues to thrive and expand in Sussex. As your images demonstrate, this is one of our most beautiful and precious species.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, David. The damage is never intentional, but people can carried away in pursuit of the perfect image, which is surprisingly easy to get with a little fieldcraft at the right time of day. I always think that the middle part of the day is for butterfly watching, with photography best attempted either early or late. Rarities accepted, of course!
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Bluebell Time

It's that magical time of year again, when some of our woods are carpeted in shades of blue and mauve. I try to capture the beauty of Bluebells every year, and always fail to do them justice ... that's simply impossible with a 2-D image.

Things were tough this time last year, and I promised myself that I would get into a Bluebell wood at every opportunity this season. Yesterday (30 April) I managed to visit three, either during or en route to/from site meetings. As always, the images taken in evening light were the most pleasing, with the low sun illuminating discrete patches and causing them to glow. I'll be back again, as soon as possible.

[Chris L]

Lovely photos Neil. You have captured that bluebell carpet perfectly. I find that whenever I try to take a photo of such a scene, my photo never captures the magic that I see with my naked eye.

[bugboy]

Those are scenes I completely missed out on last year! Not this year though, I fully intend to get my fix of Bluebell woodlands as much as possible in the coming weeks

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Otep and bugboy. There should be a two-week national Bluebell Holiday every year, shifting annually to catch them at peak. Down tools!
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Sussex Pearls (Part 2)

A return to Rewell Wood on Saturday (1 May) revealed that Pearl-bordered Fritillary numbers there are rising rapidly, with more than 20 seen just along a short section of the main W-E ride (bridleway) in the southern part of the wood. However, my plans to perform a timed count over other parts of the wood (with no public access - I work as an ecologist for the estate) were soon scuppered by a collapse in the weather. This did, at least, provide some easy photographic opportunities, as the numerous 'pearls' flying in a commercial coppice coupe all hit the deck.

Monitoring spring butterfly populations can be a frustrating task at times, with many such attempts aborted due to rapidly changing weather. But I've already seen enough to suggest that my next visit under suitable conditions should provide a bumper count. The majority flying at the moment are males, but I've already seen a couple of females egg-laying; the 'April fritillary' does not mess about!

Having recently spoken to someone who got locked in the wood last year, please do not be tempted to drive into the wood from the A27, if the metal gate is open. This is regularly locked by contractors, the local woodsman, visitors to the shooting school or me. Access is best achieved from Fairmile Bottom to the west, which is well worth a visit in its own right, now hosting a growing population of Duke of Burgundy.

[David M]

Fabulous images,Neil, as well as encouraging news regarding likely future numbers of this species.

Love the bluebell carpets too. This is one of the main reasons why spring in Britain is such a joyous time.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, David. I'm glad that the recent gales have come so early in the PBF flight season, as I suspect that a few will have come to grief. Certainly, the vast majority of females are still to emerge. We're overdue some gentle southerlies and real warmth now.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Longhorns

Yesterday (3 May) I visited my Hazel coppice cycle on the Angmering Park Estate, hoping to see a Pearl-bordered Fritillary; this species naturally colonised the site last year, although there's no guarantee that it has formed a viable colony. The weather was against me, although it may still be too early for this location.

However, this visit did give me the opportunity to photograph one of my favourite moths, the Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella, which was swarming on Wood Spurge, rather than the more normally used low tree canopy. I also took some photographs of the beautiful ground flora that the coppicing of Hazel produces, including an abundance of violets and Early Purple Orchid.

[Benjamin]

Great bluebell shots Neil and thanks for pointing out what should be obvious - that it’s all about the time of day and the light. My efforts are always flat and this is clearly why - they’re taken on the spur of the moment when my eyes can do work that my lens cannot. Like everything else, a little understanding goes a long way - I will return in the evening!

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Ben. I recommend an evening without dark clouds and hail. Like many others, I'm getting thoroughly cheesed off with this weather.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Sussex Pearls (Part 3)

Another visit to Rewell Wood today (5 May) provided a welcome opportunity to catch up with some friends. The weather behaved reasonably well, at least until shortly after 1pm, but then it was back to 'business as usual' with a drop in temperature and the onset of cold rain. There were plenty of Pearl-bordered Fritillaries on the move during the periods of warm sunshine, but these never persisted for long.

The forestry contractor was busy at work on the main W-E ride, feeding the ride-side piles of waste wood into an impressive chipping machine, before exporting the material to a local biomass boiler used to heat commercial greenhouses. By removing the 'tops' and brash from the Sweet Chestnut coppice coupes (previously left on the ground), the extent and quality of PBF breeding habitat is greatly improved. This has proven to be a game-changer over the last few years, leading to a huge increase in the number of butterflies. The PBF population here is in safe hands, thanks to the ever-helpful Norfolk Estate.

[David M]

Beautiful Pearl Bordered Fritillary images again, Neil, and nice to see the heavy machinery hard at work.

The habitat in that final image, which I presume has been regenerated due to the above work, looks extremely enticing for spring species.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, David. Yes, that's a commercially-cut Sweet Chestnut coppice coupe in its second year of regeneration. It's solid with Common Dog-violet, Bugle, Bluebell, Wood Spurge, Ground-ivy and much more. Aside from the butterflies, it also hosts a wide variety of bees; I'm just waiting for some survey results.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Dukes & Ladies

With the cold, dry, late spring morphing into a grey and wet one, things are still very start-stop at the moment, and very frustrating.

Duke of Burgundy finally started to emerge in West Sussex on 7 May, much later than in some other vice-counties. The first one I encountered this year caused real excitement, as it was on a new site for the species, and totally unexpected. The second and third I saw were also off-piste, apparently forming a new colony about 800 metres from a known site within the private parts of Rewell Wood.

A Pearl-bordered Fritillary (PBF) monitoring visit to the Rewell Wood complex on 10 May revealed really good numbers, but far fewer than in the annus mirabilis of 2020; I expected many more. PBF has started very slowly on some sites (e.g. Abbot’s Wood) and only time will tell which of two possible scenarios holds true.

The very cold spring (frostiest April since 1960) meant that violets were in very short supply when initially required by post-hibernation PBF larvae. It’s true that violets subsequently flushed spectacularly, but by then it was probably too late for the vast majority of caterpillars. This may have led to high larval mortality, particularly given the low temperatures which will have hampered larval mobility.

It may be that the cold spring has simply held things up, and that many more PBF are yet to emerge. However, we are still not getting the sort of weather which might trigger a sudden boom in numbers, so I suspect that this will prove to be a drawn-out season. My gut feeling is that we are seeing a combination of these scenarios, leading to a lengthy but unspectacular season; I hope I’m wrong.

My visit to Rewell Wood on 10 May was notable for the number of Painted Lady seen (44), consistent with the pattern seen more widely across Sussex and beyond. This is the largest influx since 2009, although, as yet, on nowhere near the same scale.

In the evening, I visited a friend’s private wood, where the thinning of standards (mainly Ash) and cutting of overstood Hazel coppice has made the Bluebell carpet more visible than in previous years.

A visit to Springhead (a.k.a Kithurst) Hill on 11 May coincided with a beautiful, warm, sunny day; a real rarity this year. Soon after 11am the meadow and associated areas became alive with Duke of Burgundy, with two bundles of four simultaneously spiralling above many more on the ground. A thorough count over the entire site produced a healthy tally of 27, including two females already laying eggs.

Also seen was my first Hairy Dragonfly of the year, and I watched a Red-tailed Mason Bee (Osmia bicolor) building a straw wigwam above its empty snail-shell nursery.

The one downside to my visit was seeing how increasing visitor pressure is now significantly degrading the habitat here; the site probably experiences a similar level of footfall per metre square to somewhere like Noar Hill. The spreading network of paths is causing a marked decline in the number of Cowslips usable as breeding plants for the Duke of Burgundy; they are reduced to tiny flat rosettes of leaves. We may have to find a solution before next year, without restricting the enjoyment of visitors too much.

On 12 May I visited the Park Corner Heath & Rowland Wood reserves in East Sussex. The sight of 27 (a magic number this year) PBF spread pretty evenly across the entire area suggests that this reintroduction is going well. It was great to see Theresa Turner, Gary Norman and Mike Mullis there, all of whom were key players in the restoration of fritillaries to the site.

[Neil Hulme]

Waiting On Weather (Again)

UKBers have never been shy about lambasting weather forecasters for getting it wrong. Recently, however, they've been getting it spot-on, at least in my neck of the woods. Daily predictions of grey cloud and showers, or prolonged periods of drizzle, have proven remarkably accurate and we should now consider shooting the messenger.

This seemingly endless weather pattern is making the monitoring of butterfly populations, or even just going out to enjoy them, very difficult. A trip to Stansted Forest on 13 May saw just sufficient thinner cloud, over a couple of ten minute periods, for me to confirm the presence of Pearl-bordered Fritillary in two areas, but I still have no idea of how many are flying there this year. A handsome Roe buck provided a welcome distraction while I was sheltering from the rain.

Yesterday (14 May), I led a Duke of Burgundy training day for South Downs National Park Authority rangers. We didn't see any Dukes under the wall-to-wall grey cloud, but did at least cover some important issues regarding habitat management for this species, the most serious threat being over-management by either excessive grazing or all-out-war on scrub.

We finished the day with a hunt for roosting butterflies, which produced a few Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper and Brown Argus.

Let's see some sunshine, or the weatherman 'gets it'.

[bugboy]

I don't know what you mean about lambasting those lovely weather people . There was a hint that things may be improving with the weather this time next week on the breakfast news this morning, just a hint though! I was wondering if you had any thoughts on LTB this year? I know what my thoughts are given how far into Europe this cold weather has gone, and I shan't be holding my breath

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Paul

Red sky at night,
Weather forecaster's house on fire.

It's certainly grim a long way south at the moment, but there's still plenty of time for things to change for LTB, and the Painted Lady hasn't been that bothered. This cold and now gloomy spring may yet be forgotten as we sizzle in the heat of June, but that seems to be the stuff of dreams at the moment.

BWs, Neil