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The Last Chapter

Despite drawing a blank during my thorough search of Sussex Long-tailed Blue sites today (15th October), suggesting that the majority have probably now flown south, there still seems to be life left in the season. A late afternoon stop at Cissbury Ring produced some beautiful, fresh specimens of Small Copper and Clouded Yellow. On a sunny afternoon this is a great place to enjoy the last chapter of a fantastic butterfly year.

History Repeats Itself

While my mother was spending some time in the Royal Sussex County Hospital (many thanks to the excellent surgeon and nurses) last Thursday (17th October), I took a wander around the rough grassland area situated a few hundred metres to the north, between the TV transmitter and Brighton Racecourse. This area borders the extensive allotments where Tessa Pawsey reported a Long-tailed Blue on 8th October. There is probably a wide variety of potential food-plants here, between the potting sheds and shrubs.

History has repeated itself because Tessa's Long-tailed Blue, and the minimum of 6 different males I found here, were probably very close to the location of Britain's first, recorded way back in 1859 "near Kemp Town". A further sighting, of which there have been only 22 in Sussex before 2013 (Pratt, 2011), occurred in 1890 "near the racecourse". E. Newman referred to the Long-tailed Blue as the "Brighton Argus".

Bearing in mind that all other known Sussex sites for Long-tailed Blue have been empty for a while (although an undisclosed site is reportedly still producing), I was surprised to see this number. I'm pretty sure that the answer lies in the altitude of the site. At a shade under 400' amsl, lower temperatures probably slowed development of the early stages. How many are still lurking on the allotments? Sadly, the weather we are predicted to suffer over the next week may preclude any more sightings this year.

I'm getting green with envey at all the LTB's being found

Your Photo's are great Sussex Kipper I just wish I lived nearer so I could check some of these sites out, abit late now though I'll just have to wait and hope next year is a good one again. Goldie

Neil

That’s at least four sites where you have seen LT Blues this year, two of which you have discovered yourself. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I do realise that 2013 has been an exceptional year for immigrants but with the knowledge – habitats, etc - you and others have gained in this golden season, surely it will be much easier in the future to find LTBs in “normal” years?

Jack

Neil, roughly how many individual LTBs do you think you've seen?

Goldie M: Thanks Goldie. I'm equally envious of your fabulous, white Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries! Perhaps we could do a trade; one of your SPBF abs. for a half a dozen of my Long-tailed Blues?

Jack: I've seen LTBs on five different sites, namely Kingsdown Leas in Kent, Beeding Cement Works and Southwick (Aldrington Canal) in West Sussex, and Brighton Racecourse and Seaford in East Sussex. I never connected with them at Newhaven Tide Mills or Birling Gap, and never made it to Minnis Bay. Like many others, I'm now far more knowledgeable about LTB than I was before this season, and I have its 'jizz' firmly engrained in my memory banks. I'm certainly more likely to pick up on the species at range than I was before. I'm sure many of us will be actively searching in future autumns, perhaps leading to a greater level of detection.

David M: I have an accurate record of what I've seen, based on either individuals I've photographed or seen sufficiently well to note the pattern of wear and tear. So I can confidently say I've seen a minimum of 33 individuals over 5 sites. In reality it's probably a few more than that.

BWs, Neil

Thanks Lee. There is something in the pipeline, but it's of a more general nature.
BWs, Neil

Sussex Kipper wrote:Thanks Lee. There is something in the pipeline, but it's of a more general nature.
BWs, Neil

Interesting stuff, Neil.

'Butterfly Bushcraft' would be a worthy subject, since you are imbued with an unnaturally good sixth sense.

Just from a personal perspective, the advice you've given ME regarding the optimum time of day to observe female Brown Hairstreaks and how to approach a grounded Purple Emperor is not something one could obtain via literature.

33-1 Outsider

With the South Coast being battered by heavy rain and high winds over the last week, it has become increasingly likely that we will soon be saying goodbye to the Long-tailed Blue. Although it is probable that a few specimens are yet to emerge, and may be found by very lucky individuals, deliberately setting out to see this species is becoming difficult.

One of my regrets has been that my father has been unable to get out and see a Long-tailed Blue. Today's short respite from the poor weather seemed to provide the very last, slimmest chance of seeing one, so we headed to Brighton Racecourse. Having made a miraculous recovery from recent surgery my mother came along too.

I'm delighted to say we got lucky. One battered male had weathered the storms and was still holding court where I'd left him on 17th October. The Long-tailed Blue can now be added to a list of very special butterflies, including Queen of Spain, Camberwell Beauty and Large Tortoiseshell, that I've been lucky enough to share with my father over the years. After all, he ignited my interest forty five years ago, so this is all his fault!
Male assembly area near the racecourse
Breeding area - Whitehawk Hill Allotments

Just wonderful, what an amazing list of rarities you've shared with your dad

Glad to know your mums recovered too.

All the best

B'saurus

Regards to your parents Neil. I have met them but I doubt they'd remember me and indeed I doubt I would recognise them. I am so delighted that your old man finally got to see Long-tailed Blue.

Jack

B. rex: Thanks James. Days out with my father certainly provide some of my happiest butterflying memories. He just needs to find me a Pale Clouded Yellow now.

Jack: They certainly do remember you! You must have made a lasting impression . My father does ask after you and is aware that you've been exiled to a secure island.

BWs, Neil

They Think It's All Over ...

I think it's highly unlikely that I'll see another Long-tailed Blue this year, and probably won't see another for a very long time, at least in the UK. From now onwards, whenever I see this species on holidays to the Canary Islands, I'll look at it in a completely different light.

Here are a couple of images I never got round to posting at the time. The first is the underside of a lovely female seen at Beeding Cement Works on 27th September. The wing detail from a male seen at Seaford on 6th October shows that lovely lilac blue colour which many of us have come to love over the late summer and autumn of 2013. Happy days!

Those scales are amazing.

Jack: They [parents] certainly do remember you! You must have made a lasting impression .

Probably because I was wide (fat) enough to block the woodland ride

Jack

Last Of 2013?

Incredibly, 2 male Clouded Yellows were still patrolling the banks of the Aldrington Canal at Southwick this afternoon. These might be my last butterflies of the great 2013 season.

2 male Clouded Yellows

With your incredible good fortune - maybe I should say skill - are you sure that they were not the North American equivalent Colias eurytheme?

Yesterday's gales might have brought almost anything across the Atlantic. I once bred eurytheme from a female captured in Washington DC and they do look remarkably like our European Clouded Yellows.

Just joking of course - or am I?

Jack

Must admit, I was wondering if any Monarchs might have been blown our way by the storm yesterday.

Work Party Season Commences

It's that time of year again when I always endeavour to do as much as I can to help our butterflies, as a 'payback' for all the enjoyment they've given me this summer. I usually start earlier in the year, but I've been distracted by the Long-tailed Blue and a few domestic matters this autumn.

Yesterday (30th October) I joined UKBer Colin Knight and members of the Murray Downland Trust to work in the lowermost pit at Heyshott Escarpment. This area is beginning to develop very nicely and from next spring onwards should hopefully become home to Duke of Burgundy, Pearl-bordered Fritillary (assuming they have managed to get a foot in the door here), Grizzled and Dingy Skipper. During a brief spell of warm sunshine we were treated to a flurry of activity from both male and female Brimstone. They appeared from nowhere and seemed to disappear into nowhere with characteristic ease.
I then moved on to Petworth Park to watch the Fallow rut. For the first hour there was plenty of posturing and belching (the bucks, not me), but all hell suddenly broke loose and I decided that I was perhaps a little too close to the action! On a serious note, always try to stay comfortably on the conservative side of a safe distance, and even further away until you have learned a little bit about their body language.

Great photo's of the Deer Sussex Skipper, your braver than I am Goldie