Springhead Hill, 2nd June 2013
Both before and after attending the Floral Fringe Fair on Sunday, I managed to fit in an hour of butterflying at Springhead Hill. Much has changed here since Simon Mockford (South Downs National Park Authority, formerly SD Joint Committee) and I started managing the site back in 2005, and it is still improving today. Those who have visited this year will have noticed that we have cleared more deep hollows and trenches up by the car park, although it will take a couple of years (and a little help) for downland flora to become established over the scree. These areas will provide additional breeding habitat for Dukes and a protected roosting area for many of the butterflies on site, particularly the Small Blue. We're not finished yet and there are some more exciting plans in the pipeline. The only downside is, that by opening up the wonderful panoramic views of the Weald below, there has been a marked increase in dog fouling of this delicate and precious habitat, guaranteed to enrich and ultimately degrade the flower meadow.
Managing a site the size of a postage stamp does sometimes necessitate 'gardening'. Of course effective management for habitat specialist butterflies must be done on a landscape scale, but it is also important to occasionally focus on a small 'flagship' site such as this, which allows those with restricted mobility to access the very best chalk grassland butterflies without mountaineering or walking long distances. Trying to keep so many species (I've personally recorded 38) happy in less than a hectare is a tricky juggling act, but it's well worth the effort. I should point out that some of those species are only very occasional visitors to the site, and others occur in very low numbers.
During my visit I was pleased to see that Small Blue numbers are now increasing (22), the first Common Blues are emerging (3), and the Duke is still on the wing (1). Other species seen include Dingy Skipper (3), Grizzled Skipper (1), Holly Blue (1), Small Heath (3), Speckled Wood (1), Orange Tip (1), Brimstone (1), Large White (1) and Green-veined White (1).