Southwater Woods, West Sussex 03/07/11

[Susie]

Dear All,

I am taking a little walk around Southwater Woods on Sunday and you would be welcome to join me.

Southwater Woods grid reference is TQ141259


I hope to see, but cannot promise, Purple Emperor, White Admiral, Silver-washed Fritillary, Purple Hairstreak, hutchinsoni Comma, Marbled White and an awful lot of meadow brown.

Meeting place: Meet at small parking embayment off Marlpost Lane at 10am.

[Susie]

For sat navs, the grid ref converts to Lat: 51.021161N Long: 0.374577W and the nearest postcode is RH13 9DA.

[Susie]

Weather forecast for Sunday is looking good!

For ease of reference I have a red citroen picasso and will be parked at the meeting place.

[Gibster]

BOO! I'm working Sunday...

Hope you see loads though

[Mark Senior]

Hi Susie
I plan to be there on Sunday looking forward to a great day in great company .

[Susie]

It will be lovely to meet you again, Mark.

That means there should be a few people from this forum as well as another forum I am a member of. I am hoping for a really good day.

[millerd]

Hope to join you too, Susie! Is there enough room for everyone to park, do you think? I've not been before...

Dave

[Susie]

Excellent, Dave. It will be great to be able to put another face to a name

Sorry you can't make it though, Gibster you could always send Sami along in your stead.

There isn't much room in the small parking embayment, probably four or five cars tops but there is plenty of parking along the roadside next to this so we won't run out of suitable parking spaces. Just one word of warning, there is a small drainage ditch near the embayment along the road which is easily missed so keep your eyes peeled when parking.

[Susie]

If anyone who is coming on the walk needs my telephone number in case they get lost please send me a pm before 9pm tonight. Just a quick warning though, signal in the area isn't great.

[Susie]

I just wanted to say thank you to the forum members, Jenks, Millerd, John W and Mark Senior, who came along to the walk today. We were also joined by Jennie, Neil and Dave from Wild About Britain. Thank you to everyone who travelled a long way to join us. I had a smashing day.


Butterflies seen today:-

White Admiral
Red Admiral
Silver Washed Fritillary
Meadow Brown
Ringlet
Gate Keeper
Speckled Wood
Marbled White
Small White
Green Veined White
Large White
Brimstone
Large Skipper
Small Skipper
Small Copper
Purple Emperor

I arrived at the site early (9am) to put down some bait but found that two members of Wild About Britain (who were also invited) had arrived on site at 7.30 and were already having a grand time photographing the butterflies. There seemed to be a lot of very fresh silver washed fritillary around. We saw a spotted flycatched by the farmhouse as well.

There wasn't any sign of Him around the usual places and there seemed to be an awful lot of bait on the paths but no butterflies down. It was nice to bump into Colin Knight on our travels.

We were finally purple when we spotted Him in the oaks near the brambles in one of the meadows. Marbled white and meadow brown were in good numbers and the crickets were striudating fit to burst. Walking further up by the pylons and hoping to get a good picture of white admiral, which seem to be well past their best, Neil nearly stood on a purple emperor and after gracing us with His presence for a few swoops and glides He was gone. We bimbled back to the cars for a late lunch and said goodbye to some of the group. The remainder of us explored the other side of the road and saw another Emperor fly into the top of an oak. Unfortunately he decided to stay there but Neil took a photo and it seemed to be two Emperors up there and they seemed to be extremely interested in each other. Mating? They weren't fighting. We discovered a glade full of ragwort and the silver washed fritillaries were having a ball.

It was a great day and I hope to get the chance to spend some time with you all in the future. Hope to bump into you at Denbies Millerd!

I feel decidedly shattered and a bit crispy around the edges too from a day in the sun though. Blimey it was a tad warm at times.

[Mark Senior]

Hi Susie
Many Thanks for all your efforts in making it a really great day out . In addition to the species you list .some of the group ( but not me ) saw Small Tortoiseshell and I and some others can add 2 or more Commas ( one an unusual very dark aberration ) and on my walk back to Southwater 2 fresh Peacocks . Cheating , I could also add 1 Holly Blue whilst waiting for the bus back to Worthing . Lots of butterflies and great company a perfect day .

[Susie]

Many thanks, Mark, I knew there were some I had forgotten as we had got to 16 species by the time we were at the meadow but couldn't recall what they were. I think Neil saw a Peacock too at the woods.

That makes a total of 19 species for the day without your holly blue.

It was lovely seeing you again today.

[Susie]

A few snaps from today.

[Mark Senior]

OOOPPSS , Susie , you have missed Purple Hairstreak from your list !!!!!

[millerd]

Just back from my extended day out. Not one to waste the long summer days, I popped into Denbies, Box Hill (for tea!) and Fairmile on the way home.
A big thank you to Susie for organising the ramble through lovely meadows and woods, and for laying on such good weather and a huge array of butterflies. Brilliant. Denbies seemed sparse in comparison, and it's not often I would say that.

Dave

[Susie]

Lol, thanks Mark! I'm pretty useless at this listing malarky, I really should write stuff down. Good job you have a good memory.

I'm glad you had a good time, Dave. You really did make the best of your day

[Lee Hurrell]

Sounds like you had a fab day Susie.

Sorry I had to miss it, chores kept me at home today.

See you soon at Denbies though no doubt!

Cheers

Lee

[Susie]

It'll be great to catch up with you again, Lee.

[Susie]

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150303145126972[/video]

This is very poor quality video. I am shooting at a great distance and into the sun so it is only showing an outline, but I think you can see two purple emperors up there (one of the people got a better photo and zoomed in and they were purple emperors).

[Pete Eeles]

Great stuff - well done Susie!

Cheers,

- Pete