I have yet to be at Ferring Rife under sufficiently good weather conditions to determine the size of this year’s crop of Small Tortoiseshells. During my last visit (27th March) it was too cool and cloudy, and I only saw 16 before returning to the car, at which point the sun broke through and the temperature rose rapidly. With only 10 minutes before my deadline to leave for a meeting, I quickly retraced my steps up the east bank. Over only a third of the usual stretch I survey, I counted 64 Small Tortoiseshell and 2 Peacock.
However, today (31st March) it was the turn of strong winds to disrupt my count. I only managed to find 13, but 11 were females, either egg-laying or taking a rest between episodes of doing so. This can be a prolonged business and one female I watched laid approximately 100 eggs, shifting slightly to create a second batch when the first grew to a pile 3 eggs deep.
The fact that almost all seen under such testing conditions for flight were female butterflies, demonstrates the difference in priorities between the sexes. Today was unsuitable for showboating, scrapping and wooing, so the males were largely inactive. I then moved on to the shelter of the chalk garden at Highdown, where 2 Peacock and a Red Admiral were enjoying the abundant early nectar.
