Bedelands Farm Nature Reserve West Sussex

[Mark Senior]

Visited this Nature Reserve yesterday for the first time . It is on the outskirts of Burgess Hill West Sussex at the whimsically named World's End within 5 minutes walk from Wivelsfield Station .
This is a large reserve with a mixture of flower rich meadows and pieces of ancient woodland with a large mill pond .
The highlights were the vast numbers of common meadow species - Meadow Browns , Ringlets and Gatekeepers which rise almost in clouds as you walk across the meadows . Somewhat surprisingly to me no Marbled Whites although they are apparently present in very small numbers ( I wonder why this is so ) .
Also seen Large and Small Whites and Large/Small Skippers , Small Heath , 1 Peacock , 3 Small Tortoiseshells and 6 Commas and 1 possibly 2 Purple Hairstreaks . White Admirals are present in very small numbers and Silver Washed and Dark Green Fritillaries have been recorded occasionally in recent years . Pearl Bordered Fritillaries were recorded here in 2001 . White Letter Hairstreaks have also been recorded in recent years and could probably be found with careful searching .
All in all a worthwhile visit if only to see what much of the countryside would have looked 60 or more years ago with masses of common butterflies in flower rich meadows .

[Susie]

Thanks, Mark. I will add it to my "to visit" list.

[Mark Senior]

Southwater woods in the morning to view the profusuion of SWF's and White Admirals and a close encounter with a Female PE on the ground tugging around a small piece of very dry excreta .
Bedelands Farm Nature Reserve in the afternoon , many hundreds of Meadow Browns and Ringlets with smaller numbers of Gatekeepers , Small Heath and Skippers Large and mostly Small . 2 Marbled Whites which do not seem common here for some reason . Delighted also to see 3 White Admirals and 2 Silver Washed Frits , hopefully they are becoming reestablished here . No Purple Hairstreaks but they are present here .