Neil Hulme

[Allan.W.]

Good ! glad you caught up with some Neil ..........never the easiest of the finches to find ,got one excellent sight fairly close to home and some have been reported ,but haven,t had the time to try for them ................. still i suppose theres time yet !
Good to hear that you reckon the pearls may be in good numbers this coming season ,I reckon we,ll be over that way hopefully for the Orchids and Pearls (more particularly for a hybrid orchid or two ! ).
Regards Allan.W.

[Neil Hulme]

Let me know if/when you're over Rewell way, Allan. There's always a good chance I'll be around in May.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

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 give their time so generously. Some were there for every single event, come snow, rain or shine. Rowland Wood, in particular, has seen far more detailed work done than ever before, including the laborious raking-up of deep Bracken litter to promote the re-establishment of violets. The ground flora should be looking magnificent over the next few weeks, and the Pearl-bordered Fritillary should follow soon after.

On several occasions in January, I visited my local cemetery to photograph the resident Roe Deer. The bucks here grow particularly large antlers, probably boosted by their nutritional diet of floral tributes. At the time of photography, their antlers were only half-developed and, even now, some are still 'in velvet' and growing. The one with the most impressive headgear is the best endowed Roe buck I've ever seen; I'm hoping to get a decent image of him soon.

[Neil Hulme]

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 my first Comma of the year.

On 3.4.23, I met up with an old friend from primary school days, who I'd bumped into at Knepp in 2022 - we hadn't seen each other for over 50 years! We managed to get fabulous views of both male and female White-tailed Eagle, watched a female Peregrine stooping at a Teal and saw plenty of Red Kite and Common Buzzard. From our viewpoint over the lower Arun Valley, we also saw the first Orange Underwing moths of the year. We then moved to a private wood near Steyning where my first female Brimstone of the year was mated without ceremony, by one of the 20+ males flying. A few Comma and Peacock were also present.

My annual Small Tortoiseshell transect at Ferring Rife on 4.4.23 produced just 13 individuals, although this did include two courting pairs. Despite a long wait to watch a successful pairing, which typically occurs as the sun begins to rapidly sink, they gave me the slip. Although there's still time for numbers to build, my tally of 13 ST does not bode well for the species in southeast England in 2023, with previous best counts here since 2013 (the year of a significant regional resurgence) being:
2013 - 194
2014 - 77
2015 - 64
2016 - 18
2017 - 33
2018 - 47
2019-2021 - no data
2022 - 18
An earlier, brief visit to Highdown produced 6 Peacock, 4 Brimstone and a single Small Tortoiseshell.

[trevor]

I wonder why you were at Houghton forest?. Great to see the Small Torts.
I've seen two in Hailsham in recent days, and that's quite remarkable.
Wonderful shot of the Brimstone pairing .

All the best,
Trevor.

[bugboy]

I wonder why you were at Houghton forest?.

All the best,
Trevor.

Yes I wonder...... should have gone to Perry Hill

[Allan.W.]

Thanks Neil ,i,ll let you know if or when we,re coming down for Rewell/Fairmile . Lovely shots of the Brimstones ..............never seen a pair ...................and tame Roe Deer ! Blimey.
Regards Allan.W.

[David M]

A great start to the current year, Neil. Those wild deer look positively adorable and as ever, you've picked off the best that early season butterflies have to offer, particularly that pair of coupling Brimstones.

[Neil Hulme]

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 tricky and elusive beast - never easy to see without a large slice of luck. However, the species is clearly now quite widely established in Sussex, although some observers prefer not to report the results of their efforts publicly (often because they are near residential properties or on private land), although the records do, of course, end up with the county recorder. I'm aware of nine 2023 sightings not in the public domain, including five different adults in one morning!

I hope to catch up with you at Rewell, Allan, if spring-proper ever arrives. I know the first PBFs are now flying in the West Country, but it will be May before numbers build sufficiently to make a long journey worthwhile.

Thanks, David. I've probably made the best of a bad job, bearing in mind that spring is now spectacularly late in arriving by 21st century standards. I'm still yet to see my first Grizzle of the year (I've seen them during the last days of March in some years) and have only seen two Green Hairstreak so far. We may end up with a scenario similar to that in 2010, when things didn't kick-off properly until 13 May!

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

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, which means I can always fit in a quick search for roosting butterflies if it's cloudy, or catch them sunbathing just before Orange-tip bedtime. My best tally so far is six roosters, including a lovely mating pair.

[David M]

Always such a delight to see this butterfly, Neil. You have captured those ones above wonderfully.

[bugboy]

Good to catch up with you on your home turf today and glad I was a comfy perch! Unfortunately my phone completely failed to save your details and my grey matter completely failed to remember it too! drop me a DM, however suffice to say I have nothing to report from Perry Hill, Virtually a butterfly free zone, still its a late season so perhaps a week or so might turn up something yet.

[Neil Hulme]

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) Hill, with Katrina, Paul and others (plus some stonking good butterflies), it was time to move on to Rewell Wood. Before leaving, I couldn't resist photographing the spectacular carpet of Cowslips above the meadow. I'll always be proud of this (albeit small) area of chalk grassland restoration - hard to imagine that this was covered in trees and dense scrub just ten years ago! In those days, that magnificent view across the Weald didn't exist.

Rewell Wood produced the goods too, with four Pearl-bordered Fritillary, two Duke of Burgundy and five Green Hairstreak.

The last image is of a Meadow Pipit's nest, secreted deep within a dense clump of grass at Chantry Hill. I flushed the bird while walking across the slope a few days ago, so just took a quick shot before rapidly moving on.

[David M]

Mouth-watering PBFs, Neil. I hope the weather will change soon so they can enjoy a successful flight period.

[Neil Hulme]

I've got a bit of catching up to do! Every year, I promise myself (and others) that next summer I'll take things easier, and every year I add more sites to the long list that I monitor and provide habitat management advice on, whether that be for the South Downs National Park Authority, some of the larger estates in Sussex, the owners of smaller private sites or farmers. With ever more reports to write up, this means that my 'quieter period' gets shorter each year and has now contracted to February to early April. But as my job and hobby are one and the same (something I'll never take for granted), those promises to do less probably aren't worth the paper they're written on; there'll be plenty of time to take things easier when I can no longer get up and down those steep slopes. However, this does mean that any updates to my diary are probably going to be restricted to annual look-backs from now on, so here goes.

The spring started very slowly for many species, with some notable exceptions; Duke of Burgundy, Green Hairstreak and Holly Blue all enjoyed very good seasons, at least here in Sussex. Others, such as Grizzled Skipper, really struggled, but numbers did finally improve later in their flight periods. After that, the butterfly season seemed rather typical, with the usual mix of ups and downs; certainly not the widespread doom & gloom predicted by many, following the 2022 summer drought.

4 & 5 May 2023

My first visit of the year to Kithurst Hill, on 4 May, produced just 6 adults. However, this is a relatively late site and numbers subsequently grew to a quite incredible peak count of 64, given the very small size of the habitat patch. I often wonder how large the population would be, if it wasn't for the excessive trampling of over-eager photographers.

On 5 May, I made my second visit of the year to Rewell Wood, seeing 7 male Pearl-bordered Fritillary. PBF suffered its third poor season in a row here, with a relatively low peak count of 169 (whole complex, including private areas) being recorded on 20 May - a late date; this compares poorly with the 2020 peak of 914. I'm convinced that high adult numbers in this species are driven by 'early springs', with warm and sunny conditions through March and early-April. The 2021 and 2023 springs were both abysmal, preventing an early flush of violets and seldom being warm enough to get the post-hibernation larvae active enough to go searching for the scant food supply. We're overdue for a good spring.

I was pleased to find 4 Duke of Burgundy at the western end of the main W-E ride in the southern part of the wood, confirming the establishment of this new colony. I'm hoping that they'll spread further.

In the evening, I was due to lead one of Knepp's Nightingale safaris, so turned up early to photograph the Bluebells in the glampsite wood (access restricted to glampers and staff). The colours are always best when the light is near-horizontal, either early or late. For me, this will always be the best time of year.

[Neil Hulme]

9 & 10 May 2023

On 9 May, I went to check on the only Monkey Orchid ever recorded in Sussex; a plant first discovered in 2021. This year, my timing was spot-on, as the flowers 'go over' very rapidly from peak, from the top down. It's a stunning plant, especially when the flower is still in perfect condition.

The following day, I visited Stansted Forest in the far west of the county, to monitor the Pearl-bordered Fritillary reintroduction I performed in 2016, while employed as BC's Fritillaries for the Future project officer. The population has always remained rather localised within this large site, but a peak count of 31 on 17 May suggests that it remains firmly established. Very few butterfly-watchers visit the site, although Mark Tutton helps with counts here, and I know that Neil Freeman found them here while on holiday.

[Neil Hulme]

11 & 13 May 2023

On 11 May, I monitored the butterfly fauna at Kithurst Hill, where Duke of Burgundy numbers were building nicely; the total count of 39 adults included two mating pairs and 5 females busy egg-laying. Among the 16 species recorded were Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Small Blue and Green Hairstreak; a typically diverse haul for this site. The Holly Blue was unusually numerous, with 11 individuals seen along the lower hedgerow.

I gave a refresher talk on butterfly identification and recording to the volunteers of the wonderful Steyning Downland Scheme on 13 May, followed by a walk on their well-managed patch. The Green Hairstreak was out in force (18) and I spotted a mating pair in the Dogwood scrub. Dingy Skipper and Wall were the other highlights among the 15 species seen.

[essexbuzzard]

Thanks for posting, Neil. Late or not, your updates are always a most enjoyable read.

Backed up with some glorious images, of course!

[Neil Freeman]

The following day, I visited Stansted Forest in the far west of the county, to monitor the Pearl-bordered Fritillary reintroduction I performed in 2016, while employed as BC's Fritillaries for the Future project officer. The population has always remained rather localised within this large site, but a peak count of 31 on 17 May suggests that it remains firmly established. Very few butterfly-watchers visit the site, although Mark Tutton helps with counts here, and I know that Neil Freeman found them here while on holiday.

Hi Neil.

Yes, I visited Stansted Forest on 11th May last year when I saw mostly fresh looking males plus a couple of females.
Like you say, it is a large site and without some guidance very kindly given to me by Mark, I could easily have wandered around for ages without finding them.
It looks like we will be visiting our daughter in Emsworth again this May and will hopefully be able to grab some time for another visit.

Some superb photos to go with some great reports.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Mark and Neil. Yes, better late than never, and hopefully some of the stuff to come will help with that building anticipation for the butterfly-filled days ahead of us.
BWs, Neil