www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi Katrina,
They're everywhere now - even up on the steepest part of the slope well above the chalk heart plateau. Please let me know if you see any PBF when you next go.
BWs, Neil

Excellent news. Great photos. And I'll too be back this week if weather holds

Such a shame I missed you at Heyshott Neil, seeing that PBF on Saturday was a very nice surprise, hopefully some more will arrive in due course. If I'm unable to make it back there again this year I hope we can meet there next spring.

All the best

B'saurus

A Day In The Woods

On Monday (5th May) I spent a very enjoyable day with my daughter in the woods around Arundel. We didn’t see the Grizzly Bear she had hoped for, but did see plenty of Brimstone, Orange Tip, Green-veined White and Peacock in Houghton Forest. No sign of Pearl-bordered Fritillary yet and we are very keen to hear of any sightings here. Along the ride edge at SU993117 we did see an almost black Dingy Skipper, and very extensive larval feeding damage on Greater Burdock, caused by the nationally scarce Spotted White Plume (Pterophorus galactodactyla). We saw plenty of the same in Rewell Wood.

Heyshott Goes Into Overdrive

Yesterday (9th May) I visited Heyshott Escarpment in challenging conditions, with a fierce westerly blowing across the face of the slope. This made for a slow start, as Duke of Burgundy in particular hates the wind. However, with each of the increasingly frequent sunny spells, more appeared, many having only just emerged. In just two of the small hollows I counted a total of 19 Dukes. One of these pits, which contained just 2 males during my last survey, now held 11, although there is likely to be some movement between areas in response to such a strong wind. By mid afternoon there were plenty of fresh females around, under the now clear blue skies. Duke of Burgundy was the most numerous species on site, although it's neck-and-neck with Dingy Skipper.

For the first time this season there was definitely more than just a single Pearl-bordered Fritillary around, with a minimum of 2 male and 1 female. Small Heath and Common Blue both started to appear during the six happy hours I spent on the hill. It wasn't just the butterflies that performed well; Heyshott is also great for downland flowers, and the Fly Orchid I spotted last week is just beginning to bloom. Best of all, with the exception of one visitor during the morning, I had the place to myself.

Neil Hulme wrote:Duke of Burgundy was the most numerous species on site....

Not a remark seen very often but a highly satisfying one no doubt, Neil?

Yes David, very satisfying. We just need to replicate this success on a few more sites now.
BWs, Neil

Gimme Shelter

On Sunday (11th May) it was still blowing a hooley, so I attempted to get out of the wind by dropping into the deep coombes along the Downs near Storrington. Although there were plenty of butterflies to enjoy, photographing them was near-impossible. Numbers of Dingy Skipper and Green Hairstreak remain very impressive here, but it was the new arrivals I was keen to get a closer look at. Brown Argus, Common Blue, Small Copper and Small Heath are all beginning to appear more frequently. Just as the butterflies began to settle down to roost the wind occasionally abated, if only for very short periods. Eventually, more by luck than judgement, I managed to get a few reasonable shots.

1,2,4 Brown Argus
3 Common Blue

Great stuff Neil. Storrington downs sound like a great site. With better weather forecast,could be a great place to visit the next few days,though not for me,unfortunately...

Butterflies Perform For Visitors

Today (14th May) I joined a few Sussex Branch committee members in showing BC CEO Martin Warren and Senior Regional Officer Dan Hoare around a few sites where conservation work has proven particularly successful in recent years. Our visitors could not have chosen a better day and the Downs and Weald looked stunning in the warm spring sunshine. Heyshott Escarpment was our first port of call and it produced the goods in truly spectacular fashion.

A less-than-thorough survey of the site produced 104 Duke of Burgundy, 6 Pearl-bordered Fritillary (incl. an egg-laying female), c.60 Dingy Skipper, 5 Grizzled Skipper, 4 Green Hairstreak, 8 Common Blue, 4 Brimstone, 2 Green-veined White, 1 Orange Tip, 2 Red Admiral, 2 Peacock, 5 Small Heath and 2 Speckled Wood. Moths included Burnet Companion, Common Heath and Speckled Yellow. Orchids were numerous, topped by Fly (both normal type and green-flowered), Greater Butterfly and White Helleborine.

Further stops included Rewell Wood and Springhead Hill, where more PBF and Duke of Burgundy were seen together with the first Small Blue of the day. We finished the tour at Chantry Hill with plenty of spring skippers, Brown Argus and Small Copper. As we sat on a small plateau, catching our breath after a steep, final ascent, we looked down upon the canopy of an ash tree in which 13 Green Hairstreak were enjoying the late afternoon sun, including a mating pair. Sussex did us proud today.

Neil Hulme wrote: A less-than-thorough survey of the site produced 104 Duke of Burgundy...

That's an almost unbelievable statistic, Neil.

Is this the best site in the UK for DoB?

Hi David,
It really depends on how you assess that. For instance, Butser Hill and Porton Down can claim larger populations, but they are really large metapopulated sites, with several/many population centres spread over a wide area. As a small, compact, discrete, single site I doubt that Heyshott can be beaten. It supports a remarkable population in terms of Dukes per square metre! They are still emerging. The record count for the site of 115 was made here in 2011 by Dan Hoare and me, searching in a more thorough and paced manner. That record will fall this May.
BWs, Neil

Neil Hulme wrote:The record count for the site of 115 was made here in 2011 by Dan Hoare and me, searching in a more thorough and paced manner. That record will fall this May.
BWs, Neil

Magnificent stuff, Neil. All that hard work during the winter is seemingly now paying big dividends.

I look forward to hearing about the new record count.

Wet Skippers And Orchids

Skipping back to Tuesday 13th May, just before this spell of wonderful sunny weather, I spent most of the day dodging showers. From high ground these could be seen as localised but widespread over much of the Weald and Downs. After getting thoroughly soaked for the second time I headed to Fairmile Bottom (near Rewell Wood) to look at a group of a dozen beautiful Fly Orchids. I then returned to Chantry Hill to photograph more wet skippers. Six weeks into their season Grizzled Skippers are still emerging. The Dingy Skipper is having an excellent year in Sussex and outnumbers all else on most sites.

1 Fly Orchid
2,3,4 Grizzled Skipper
5 Dingy Skipper

That Dingy Skipper shot is absolutely stunning

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel.
BWs, Neil

That Fly Orchid is great and lovely rich colours on the first Grizzled

Thanks William. Yesterday evening I returned to have a look at the Fly Orchids with my father. So here's a different plant, photographed in different light.
BWs, Neil

Gorganus Alert

Following the April sightings of (IMO) British-born gorganus (European) Swallowtail at Magdalen Hill Down (Hants.) and Seabrook (Kent), another was seen a couple of days ago at the ARC Pit, Scotney, on the Kent/East Sussex border. The pupae being monitored in a Chichester garden (no access possible) have apparently started to colour up. Be ready for the big event of the 2014 butterfly season as things hot up over the next few weeks.

Thanks for early warning Neil. Please continue to keep us informed.