Neil Hulme

[Maximus]

Very nice stuff in your recent posts Neil the Dingy Skipper is a beautiful butterfly. Also your Bee-Fly photos from earlier are inspirational.

Mike

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks all. It's proving to be a fruitful spring so far.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Tipping With Friends

The last two days (10th & 11th April) have been spent in the company of friends, making the most of this magical time of year and the Orange Tips that come with it. Hopefully, after trips to Billingshurst/Five Oaks and Wiston, Brian, Garry, Leigh, Gary and my father will all have some great shots of Orange Tips sitting on pretty spring flowers! In addition to our main target, on Thursday we found two pairs of mating Green-veined White.

Image by Brian Henham

Yesterday, I started off at Mill Hill, where I relocated the first two Dingy Skipper of the year and a single Grizzled Skipper. Early indications are that the latter species may have crashed at this site. Better news came in the form of my first Green Hairstreak of the year, at far end of the lower slope amongst the regenerating privet.

It was then more Orange Tipping at a pretty water meadow in the village of Wiston. At one point I had 5 males and a female marked at roost on various flowers, ready for a couple of visitors making a rapid exit from their places of work. Just before their arrival the sun reappeared, sending the butterflies off on their final sorties of the day. Luckily there were sufficient around to ensure success.

The greatest surprise here came in the form of an immature, male Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly. This is my earliest ever sighting of this species by a 'country mile'.

[robpartridge]

Good depth of field on that lovely photo of the Green-veined Whites,

Rob

[William]

Superb Green Hairstreak Neil, I'm very jealous

[badgerbob]

Fantastic pictures as always and amazed to see the Beautiful Demoiselle already!!

[Jack Harrison]

I'm sure you'll agree about the style and elegance of the James Pringle sleeveless jacket I am wearing.

Neil. Do you mind if I send that picture to Messrs Pringle and offer to do some modelling for the "Oldies and Fatties" spring collection?

Jack

[mud-puddling]

Wonderful images Neil, love the Beautiful Demosielle shot!

Thanks again for helping me get my first photograph of an Orange Tip. Much appreciated advice as always.

Leigh

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Come on then Neil where are you hiding those Duke of Burgundy photos they've already been out for a couple of days!

Hope to see you soon at the appointed place of Dukedom.

You've put up some wonderful photos lately - my eyes are feeling spoiled

ATB

B'saurus

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks Rob, William and Bob - the first few weeks of the season have certainly been kind to me.

Jack - I thought that was a little deconstructed number by Vivienne Westwood. You wear it well.

Leigh - Glad you got your shot. Great pic!

Rex - Noar Hill has historically been a good week ahead of Sussex Duke sites. We must wait, but they're nearly cooked!

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Pete's Wood

I have always had mixed feelings about ‘Wood Lotting’, which is the commercial practice of purchasing large blocks of woodland for subdivision and subsequent sale to multiple owners. Many of these lots are purchased for investment or tax purposes, often becoming completely neglected, increasingly overgrown, dark and poor for wildlife – not least butterflies and moths. Other lots suffer a similar fate because well meaning owners feel it is detrimental to cut down trees and other vegetation, believing this would be damaging to the wildlife in their care.

A lesser number of these purchased woodland blocks become home to damaging recreational activities or inappropriate livestock, while others reduce public access or evade statutory controls. Perhaps the most widespread problem is the vastly increased difficulty in the implementation of a consistent, joined-up approach to the management of the wood, due to multi-ownership and highly variable interest in conservation matters.

To be fair to the organisations which operate such schemes, they do make every attempt at guiding new owners in the right direction, and offer advice on how best to manage woodland for wildlife. Many of the owners who wish to manage their woodlands sympathetically join organisations such as the Small Woodland Owners Group, which shares best practice amongst the more enlightened. Fortunately, a significant number of owners look after their woodlands very well and in Sussex we have shining examples like Nick Lear at Knowlands Wood near Barcombe.

Last Friday (11th April) I returned to look at such a wood in West Sussex, in part owned by Pete Varkala and his partner Sally. I’ve been here before, both to give advice and to do a little work myself, including the planting of some Dutch Elm Disease resistant saplings (sponsored by BC Sussex Branch). Pete has been steadily chipping away for a number of years now, opening the woodland up to allow more light in.

Pete’s part of the wood always had great potential, being on the sunny, southern edge and having the added benefits of a small spring-fed stream and pond. However, having not visited the place for several years, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw last week. Improvement seems to have been almost exponential and it has suddenly developed into one of the most stunningly beautiful areas of woodland I have ever seen – my images get nowhere near to doing it justice.

Unsurprisingly, the flora and fauna are showing their appreciation of Pete’s hard work and the entire ecosystem is thriving. Pete has created a little piece of paradise here, not just for him and Sally to enjoy, but for the benefit of wildlife over the surrounding area. If only a few more small woodland owners could achieve something even approaching this. A tour of some of the other lots within the wider woodland showed the all-too-common situation at the opposite end of the scale.

[Neil Hulme]

Mill Hill, Shoreham

Mill Hill at Shoreham is gradually livening up, but it's been a slow start to the season here. This is one of the sites which was hit particularly hard by the 2012 wash-out summer and will take a little while longer to fully recover. Even this morning (14th April), two weeks into their season, there were still only 3 Grizzled Skipper on offer. Early indications are that this species might be down in numbers across much of Sussex this year. Equally noticeable is the very low number of Pyrausta spp. (small day-flying moths) here since 2012.

Green Hairstreak (5) and Dingy Skipper (6) are now fully underway and faring a little better; they may well go on to do well this year. The former species was seen at both the northern and southern ends of the lower slope, and in the glades between scrub adjacent to the upper car park. Also seen was a male Holly Blue, one Speckled Wood, a few Whites, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

[Neil Hulme]

Gorganus Gone

A small group of hopefuls collected at the beautiful BC Magdalen Hill Down nature reserve this morning, keen to see the European Swallowtail spotted here yesterday. Sadly it didn't show, but there was plenty going on to make the drive from Sussex worthwhile. Fellow Sussexer Colin Knight and I were given a guided tour by Reserves Manager Jayne Chapman, seeing a few Green Hairstreak, Grizzled Skipper, Holly Blue, Green-veined White and a good number of ex-hibernators. Brimstone were plentiful and we watched a female laying eggs on regenerating Buckthorn shoots. I wasn't too disappointed to miss the gorganus as I'm confident there will be a few around this spring.

Colin and I then moved on to Noar Hill to have a look for Duke of Burgundy. Being a 'morning butterfly', we didn't see the numbers recently reported from here, but in the end a thorough search turned up 5 males and a female. The other species seen in reasonable numbers was the Orange Tip. As always, it was great to see my first Dukes of the year. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long for them to emerge in Sussex.

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Ah now that's what I've been waiting for. I knew it wouldn't be too long before you posted up some wonderful D of B photo's Neil. I'm really looking forward to seeing you and hopefully some Dukes soon.

All the best

B'saurs

[Neil Hulme]

It won't be long now James. I can't wait for the Sussex Dukes to emerge .... slightly more attractive than the Hampshire race to my eye.
BWs, Neil

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Well of course they live in Sussex with us!

[Susie]

Super photos Neil. I am so glad someone got to see dukes today

[Mark Tutton]

Hi Neil
Shame we missed gorganus but there is always next time! Glad you caught up with ' his grace' At Noar Hill - have to say Magdalen hill looked great - won't be long before dukes are here too if Jayne has her way
Catch up soon
Mark

[Neil Hulme]

Nature Improvement Area

It's great to see such encouraging results so soon in the 'South Downs Way Ahead' Nature Improvement Area (NIA) project, designed and co-ordinated by the South Downs National Park Authority. This project was awarded a £608,000 DEFRA grant in spring 2012, as one of twelve successful bids for NIA status. 'South Downs Way Ahead' aims to link chalk grassland habitat along the South Downs Way between Winchester and Eastbourne, and the grant is being supplemented by other lines of funding to finance a c.£3 million plan to safeguard and enhance this endangered habitat and its associated flora and fauna, including butterflies and moths.

On Wednesday (16th April) I spent four hours surveying butterflies around the Chantry Hill area near Storrington. It took this long for two reasons; some of the slopes are 'mountain goat territory' and, more importantly, there were so many butterflies to count. Several species are reacting remarkably quickly to the habitat management work in the area. The final tally was Green Hairstreak (55), Dingy Skipper (16), Grizzled Skipper (13), Green-veined White (3), Brimstone (2), Speckled Wood (2), Small Tortoiseshell (5) and Peacock (3). Also seen were the day-flying moths Pyrausta aurata (10) and P. despicata (3).

Butterflies and moths are far from the only beneficiaries of this type of work, but they do provide a very sensitive indicator of the wider health of the ecosystem. Many other creatures are benefitting from the improving habitat, including my favourite Mason Bee Osmia bicolor. I saw 4 of these over an area which was cleared of scrub a couple of years ago, all searching for empty snail shells in which to lay their eggs. Once a suitable nursery is chosen, the bee will then collect dried grasses and drop them to form a wigwam-like structure over the shell in order to camouflage it. I watched several bees checking any block of chalk which resembled a snail shell in size and proportion, crawling around it to determine whether or not it had an opening.

[Katrina]

Beautiful photos - especially the Green Hairstreak!