Well, what a cracking day and it's not often I get to say that recently!
I joined the Sussex BC walk at Steyning this morning led by none other than our own Kipper. He'd arranged the weather so it was a gloriously sunny morning after a couple of weeks of cold, wet, gloomy grot so the butterflies would be on top form and indeed they were to delight the large turn out of people who attended. It is always nice to chat to other butterfly addicts ... I mean enthusiasts ... and it was a pleasure to meet Tom Ottley briefly this morning before he and his companion went off looking for BH elsewhere.
I've not been to Steyning rifle range before but the site is excellent and I can see why the butterflies like it. I will definitely be back at other times of the year. The work which has been put in by the management to date is already paying off.
I won't go into too much detail because I am sure Neil will do that in his diary entry but I saw my second ever Wall butterflies which I was very pleased about and we found a first for the site; one of the other members spotted something interesting in a patch of chalkland flowers on a steep slope. Neil was about to lead the group off to see further delights but must have spotted our excitement and called out to us regarding what we had found to which I shouted "Adonis!". Not this time a reference to the gorgeous Kipper but instead a reference to the beautiful blue butterfly before us. I fairly skipped down the slope back to the brown hairstreak reserve I was so full of the joy of butterflying.
Species for the morning at Steyning: Brown hairstreak, meadow brown, speckled wood, brimstone, small white, large white, green veined white, holly blue, common blue, adonis blue, brown argus, small copper, small heath, wall, peacock.
It was also a cracking place for dragonflies with some lovely hawkers. It was nice to see a big group of swallows and martins flying around over head and a couple of buzzards calling.
Late this afternoon I thought that I had better check the potted blackthorn in the back garden for eggs. I had left the pots which I used to raise the rescued brown hairstreak eggs on last year next to the hemp agrimony in the back garden and lo and behold there were four eggs on one pot and five on the other. Then I thought I would have a look in the front garden too and there are more eggs on the blackthorn in the hedge. Hopefully there will be more eggs appearing over the next week or so. How good is that?!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)