A trip to Steyning on Saturday gave me a last taste of summer and probably my last flaming hairstreak of the year. It wasn't a quarter pounder, more of a three quarter butterfly, but still great to see.
I found it quite amusing as I turned up at Steyning and made my way to the group of enthusiasts at the bottom of the hill near the master tree to be hailed by our Sussex Kipper. I knew Kipper must have found something (doesn't he always! ) and people were hopping over the fence to look at what he was looking at. 'You're over the wrong side of the fence' someone called, 'I'll have to make it come over here then' I replied - at which point the butterfly took off and flew over to MY side
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
- 'Whose on the wrong side of the fence?'
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
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She might have only been three quarters of a hairstreak but she kept herself very busy walking around the blackthorn laying eggs so hopefully will be the mother of many more hairstreaks next year.
I didn't see a huge number of butterflies on Saturday,although there were loads of Silver Y around, but the lovely company of other butterfly enthusiasts including John W of this forum made it a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.
On Tuesday morning I popped to Denbies for 45 minutes for a walk. There are still some really good condition common blues around but my favourite butterfly was this incredibly worn chalkhill blue.
Also tatty brown argus, a pristine small heath and lots of meadow brown.