Susie

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Susie,

He was rather special and made even more so by your company.

This Duke of Burgundy who has survived the dreadful weather of the weekend had to be my highlight of the day though.

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[Susie]

Same here. I am looking forward to butterfly spotting and/or putting the world to rights again with you soon.

[Susie]

[marmari]

That's a great photo of bluebells.
Always difficult to get their rich colour.Well done.

[Susie]

Thank you.

I dont know if anyone else has noticed but the bluebells seem very sparse this year with few flowers. Perhaps this is a result of a couple of dry springs as bluebells like it damp I believe, in which case next spring will be amazing.

[Susie]

Sussex Kipper once again led an extremely successful walk around parts of Rewell Wood this afternoon to a group of approximately 20 people. The weather was definitely unpromising but in the best Blue Peter tradition of "here's one I made earlier" Kipper had staked out a number of PBF the previous evening and they were still in the same position 24 hours later. Everyone had really good opportunities to look at these beautiful little creatures and take photographs to their heart's content.

It was lovely to again meet up with some UK B members.

Thanks to Neil on behalf of Sussex BC for leading such an enjoyable walk on a grotty afternoon. Half an hour sitting in front of a log fire when I got home finally thawed me out!

Great work is being done at Rewell and my thanks goes out to everyone involved.

[Susie]

Neil spotted a butterfly down in the leaf litter at the end of the walk. This poor chap was in the undergrowth and looks like he has failed to fully inflate his wings properly. Perhaps this was because it was too cold yesterday but on other occasions I have seen it happen to butterflies and moths when it has been too hot/too dry or because their wings have been restricted by an object in the way. I did see this one open it's wings fully and although one side is a bit crumpled the other side is okay so I am hopeful he will be able to fly.

Unfortunately in my haste to see that one I managed to knock another one off of the coppiced hazel with my bag - I am so clumsy! There was a brief hurried search to locate it so it could be returned to a safe perch, which fortunately Neil managed, as on the ground it ran the obvious risk of being squashed by a big boot but also of being predated by wood ants and other creatures.

[Susie]

Great minds think alike ....

It was so cold and wet and just plain horrid today I really didn't think I was going to get out at all but by late afternoon the rain had stopped so I wrapped up and ventured out over my local patch which is part of the river Arun flood plain. Unfortunately they are building a new housing estate on some of it and have cut big chunks out of an ancient hedgerow and I am quite curious to see how the provisions they will put in place to stop flooding will work. Walking along the footpath the water was up to the top of my wellies in places and the mud was quite trecherous at times but passable with care. I imagine that last week when the weather was particularly wet it would have been impassable.

It was too cold for all but the most hardy of insects to be active but my hope was to see the ramsoms in flower and they are about half out now. To get to them I had to walk through some fields and over a couple of stiles. There is a lot of coppiced hazel in the area and so many dormice live here (although I have yet to see one)

The area is cut through with ghylls which are deep channels cut in the clay down to the bedrock which feed into the Arun.

The wet heavy clay soil is perfect for the wild garlic which grows here in profusion.

In some areas the wood is very overgrown and in one place the blackthorn is very leggy and creates a dark and dismal area I call "Murk Wood". The bushes don't have leaf yet so it's not as bad in the photo as it will become later in the spring when the canopy cuts out nearly all the light.

Being so damp the area is very good for mosses, lichens and insects that feed on rotting wood. There are some really impressive specimens of lichen

When I reached the ramsoms it was trying to rain again so the light was very poor but I managed a few snaps near the edge where a few of the bluebells were also growing and also yellow archangel, stitchwort and ground ivy and a solitary vetch.

The highlight of the trip for me though had to be a group of martins and swallows which appeared out of no where and their airbourne acrobatics were a joy to behold. The swallows in particular were flying mere inches above the grass and so close to me at times that I could see their eyes and the sheen on their feathers. It was one of those moment which I won't forget in a hurry and strangely incongruous to have such a summery event on a day which felt like February rather than May.

[Susie]

The rain finally stopped here at about 4pm and by 4.30 the sun came out for the first time for days. Hurrah!

To make the most of it I went to Botany Bay to try my luck for wood white. I saw three in total, two briefly doing the pre-mating ritual before going their separate ways. I bumped into Mark Colvin and Hideandseek while there which was a pleasant surprise. I'm looking forward to seeing some more excellent shots from both of them.

[Wurzel]

Lovely shots of a butterfly I've yet to see, I'll have to save the pennies for petrol to make a visit!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Susie]

Thanks, Wurzel. Give it a few weeks and I expect there will be loads of them. It's well worth a visit.

I popped up to Denbies at lunchtime today but it was cold and drizzly and nothing was around so I cut my walk short and headed for home.

As I got closer to home the weather improved. As I arrived home I glanced throught the window into the back garden and something was flying. A closer look made me stop short; yellow underwing on steroids was my first thought! Then the penny dropped it was an EMPEROR MOTH!

There were three of them, all males, blundering about in the undergrowth (and falling in the pond) and making short flights. After rescuing one from the pond, running inside for my camera and taking one shot, they all took off in unison and flew away strongly. I assume (hope) they had sniffed out a female.

Some of you may remember that I collected some Emperor Moth caterpillars last spring. At the time I didn't know what they were. Now the site has been flattened to make way for the new estate so I don't feel bad about taken them from the wild.

Two of the cocoons remain from the five I had. I put all the cocoons in a bush in the garden about six weeks back so that they could emerge freely and I have put the two small ones back into the aquarium I had the caterpillars in. It has a mesh lid and I am hoping that if these ones emerge as females the males will be tempted back.

Also in the garden today a female orange tip laying eggs, a large white and two large red damselflies.

[dave brown]

Susie,
Sorry to intrude on your diary but the photo of the Emperor Moth is worthy of comment. It is a beautiful moth, well captured by your photo. Despite many years in the field we have yet to catch up with this species, so to have three in the garden and then seeing them fly off to some unseen female must have been truly exciting and a good reward for rescuring them before the builders moved in. Lets hope they find another nearby suitable area and breed.
dave

[Susie]

Thank you, Dave.

I have not seen them flying before today and they are chunky ol' critters and quite impressive in flight even if not the most dainty

Last year I reared some in captivity and put some on the hawthorn in the hedge in the front garden. I didn't track their progress but I am hoping some of them will have grown to adulthood too and could breed to produce more. I wasn't optimistic that these ones had survived the winter outdoors as it has been so cold so I am particularly chuffed.

I also noticed today that a chaffinch is building a nest above the french doors on the back of the house. Unfortunately this is a really bad place if the weather sets fair as the family will spend a lot of times outdoors which will probably put her off but also because it is south facing and if we have a hot spell her chicks will cook. Obviously I can't move her on so I will just have to see what happens

[Neil Freeman]

Beautiful shot of the Emperor Moth Susie, I like the way the light is showing through the wings

This is a very impressive species that I have not seen yet, I believe they are in Sutton Park just north of Birmingham, I must go and have look sometime soon.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Susie]

If you get the chance go and see them. It's well worth it.

[David M]

I always associate this moth with one spring spent working for Eurocamp in southern France just prior to university.

One night, one of the girls ran back screaming from the shower block complaining that there was a bat swooping round her. This didn't sound right so I went to investigate and found an Emperor moth fluttering around the lights surrounding the sink units. I caught it and brought it back to camp and after a few minutes everyone could see it was harmless and a few of them started to look at it more closely and were gobsmacked by its beauty.

Every morning we saw wings scattered near the camp which were obviously leftovers from a bat meal the previous night. There must have been dozens of them around but I only got to see that particular one alive and kicking.

Stunning creatures.

[Susie]

Great story

My plan worked! One female Emperor moth emerged at lunchtime. The weather here is poor at the moment so I don't expect any incoming males yet.

No photos as yet as I spent lunchtime in the pub!

[Susie]

Empress pumping up her wings.

[essexbuzzard]

Those emperor moths are great,Susie! Although i'v seen them on the Cornish coast,i have never managed to photograph one,and i would love to. Maybe breeding them would increase my chances,but i havn't seen them locally,so i don't know if releasing them is the right thing to do here. Great photo.

[Susie]

She's been sitting in the tank with the lid off for the last two days now and still hasn't flown away even though she is alive and looks healthy

I went to Denbies this afternoon and it has put itself back in my good books again. I got very excited by what I found

I was looking for green hairstreak but the first butterflies I came across were dingy skippers; an awful lot of them! They seemed prepared to weather the blustery conditions and down in the shelter of the hedgeline it was more sheltered and warm in the sunshine. A few burnet moths were buzzing around as well and the horseshoe vetch has just started to flower and the eyebright, cowslips, speedwell and other flowers are around but not in great numbers yet.

Occasionally I would see a grizzled skipper too, I think I encountered 4 or 5 in total but I uttered an audible wow when something settled and I immediately recognised it as a brown argos. I took a record shot from a distance but it wouldn't let me get anywhere near before it shot off again. Then something
blue whizzed into view, and then a second one. One stopped for a second which gave me long enough to see what it was. They were two adonis blue! The wind took them off eastwards along the slope and I didn't see them again but the elation didn't leave me all afternoon. Next surprise was a small copper with beautiful blue spots. Another first for the year were small heath, again there were quite a few of these about. A large white and a male brimstone flew along the hedgeline. Then the sun went in and they all disappeared.

I walked up the slope and bumped into some people who were on last weekend's outing to Rewell Wood, a very pleasant couple, Alan and Katie, and a colleague of Philzoid called (I think) Clive. I told them of what I had seen and they went to check out the area while I went looking further up for green hairstreak. Unfortunately I didn't find any and I joined them again at the bottom of the slope. There still wasn't much flying until the sun came out and we spotted the small copper again.

I left them and bimbled back up the slope as time was cracking on (about 5.30) and near the top I found a roosting small copper and also two roosting common blues.

All in all it was a great afternoon.

Brown argus in the undergrowth

Roosting common blue

Roosting small copper

Blue on hawthorn blossom