www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks, James. Hope to see you at Steyning soon!
BWs, Neil

Big Bang Imminent

Despite the slow start to the Sussex Brownie season, we are now at the point when good numbers of ovipositing females are likely to become active. I suspect that the next warm and sunny morning will mark the start of a period of plenty, which should extend to mid September this year. If the weather plays ball, Richard Roebuck’s walk this Sunday (23 August; see BC Sussex Events Listing)) could be very well timed.

On Sunday (16 August) I managed my first open wing shot, during a stop-off on my way to the Rifle Range. By the time I reached the reserve area the weather had caved in and the temperature plummeted. The weather has not been particularly kind recently, so we must be due for a change.

Divine Inspiration

On Monday (17 August) I spent a very enjoyable day with the colourful and charismatic Reverend Peter Owen-Jones (clergyman, author and TV presenter), who will be narrating a documentary being made about the South Downs. Without giving too much away, this will include some glorious footage of some of our best-loved butterflies. In what must have been a carefully orchestrated plan to appear as extras, several BC Sussex friends kept emerging from bushes and rabbit holes.

Great photos Neil, love the Silver Spotted Skippers Goldie

Thanks, Goldie.
BWs, Neil

Great Day On The Steyning Downland Scheme

A great day out on the Steyning Downland Scheme (SDS) http://www.steyningdownland.org today. The female Brown Hairstreaks are still reluctant to start egg laying, so this could be a long season for them. I located two females in an area where they haven’t been seen before, one of which behaved impeccably for an hour, with its wings flat open for much of the time. SDS stalwart Pete Varkala passed by while doing his butterfly survey, so I was able to call him over to enjoy this beauty. I suspected that Colin Knight was on site, so a quick call enabled him to join us.

Later in the day I found a third hairstreak, again doing very little other than looking pretty. However, more was to come. I flushed a newly emerged Adonis Blue male from the slopes of the Rifle Range and Colin almost certainly saw a second. These are the first seen on the Rifle Range for a couple of years, so it seems that the management is continuing to bring rewards. There was other exciting news too, but I’ll wait for Pete to formally announce his find at a SDS event on Thursday evening.

Superb shots as always, Neil - those open wing Brownies and the male Adonis in particular

BWs,

William

Fantastic shots Neil, wish we'd continued on to Steyning after Kent , the open winged BH is lovely also the Adonis, but the HS on Blackberries steals the show for me Goldie

Thanks, Goldie and William. Much appreciated.
BWs, Neil

Pier Of Poo

Following on from some of the excellent images recently posted by others on UKB, here's another White Admiral larva promenading on his pier of poo. I quickly located 6 of these on a small honeysuckle at our Park Corner Heath reserve yesterday (21 August), followed by another 8 at Brocks Wood, west of Lewes.

Wow! Those Brown Hairstreak images quite took my breath away!

Too Hot To Handle

I met quite a few other enthusiasts at the Rifle Range on Saturday (22 August), where all were hoping for a good day with the Brown Hairstreak. Having stopped at another Steyning site on the way, where Richard Roebuck was filling his boots with Brownies, I too was confident of a hairstreak bonanza. However, it proved too hot for them to handle, as the temperature quickly soared through the 80s mark.

On arriving at the Rifle Range I immediately located 3 females along the southern flank hedgerow, then flushed a female from just outside the reserve area. But by 11.45 am activity slowed and soon after midday it became apparent that most butterflies had stopped flying. A group of us later located a few more female hairstreaks, all seeking shade rather than venturing out to lay eggs. Too cool and cloudy, too windy, too hot and sunny – come on, give us a break!

On the way down the track back to Steyning we stumbled upon a Privet Hawkmoth caterpillar. Hardly rare, but always impressive.

Our thoughts are with all those affected by the Shoreham air disaster. The ominous pall of black smoke visible from our location could not have foretold the extent of the loss being suffered so close by.

Thanks, Mark. Hopefully plenty more to come in this slow-to-start season at Steyning.
BWs, Neil

Nice shots Neil,
m
My first thought when I heard about the disaster was to hope no one I knew was in it, I second your thoughts for the suffering Goldie

Neil Hulme wrote:Great Day On The Steyning Downland Scheme

A great day out on the Steyning Downland Scheme (SDS) http://www.steyningdownland.org today. The female Brown Hairstreaks are still reluctant to start egg laying, so this could be a long season for them. I located two females in an area where they haven’t been seen before, one of which behaved impeccably for an hour, with its wings flat open for much of the time. SDS stalwart Pete Varkala passed by while doing his butterfly survey, so I was able to call him over to enjoy this beauty. I suspected that Colin Knight was on site, so a quick call enabled him to join us.

Later in the day I found a third hairstreak, again doing very little other than looking pretty. However, more was to come. I flushed a newly emerged Adonis Blue male from the slopes of the Rifle Range and Colin almost certainly saw a second. These are the first seen on the Rifle Range for a couple of years, so it seems that the management is continuing to bring rewards. There was other exciting news too, but I’ll wait for Pete to formally announce his find at a SDS event on Thursday evening.

BC Brown Hairstreak, Steyning Coombe 19.8.15.jpg

BC Adonis Blue, Steyning Rifle Range 19.8.15.jpg

BC Brown Hairstreak, Steyning Rifle Range 19.8.15.jpg

Hi Neil
Are you able to share Pete's "exciting find" now? Or is it still top secret?
Cheers
Paul

Hi Paul,

Pete found the first specimen of Silver-spotted Skipper ever recorded on the Steyning Downland Scheme (SDS) area - so cause for much celebration! Attracting SSSk to the site was one of the stated goals of a Heritage Lottery Fund supported project called Dukes of Steyning which I have been involved with, in partnership with SDS, National Park Authority and Millennium Seed Bank (Kew).

This has involved clearance of secondary woodland, scrub-bashing and the re-introduction of long-lost grazing regimes. I've trained many of the locals in butterfly identification and monitoring, so I was particularly pleased when a local volunteer made the discovery.

In the future we will be planting out a large number of Primula plugs, with the aim of assisting the spread of Duke of Burgundy further eastwards.

Pete has now enjoyed his 'big reveal' at a Steyning butterfly recorders meeting.

BWs, Neil

That's fantastic news Neil.
Really chuffed for you and all else involved in the project. It just shows what can be achieved with a vision and lots of hard effort.
Well done!

You said they would get there Neil, I'm really glad they have. I know that loads of hard work has gone into this, from all parties involved. Great stuff, shows what can be achieved with hard work.

Mike

Great news about the Silver Spots Neil I was looking through your Brostreak shots with increasing envy and the open winged female from a couple of post back is a stunner - is it just me or does she have a lot of Orange on her?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks, Paul, Mike and Wurzel. Good news indeed. Several others have seen Silver-spotted Skipper at Steyning now, so hopefully they'll gain a firm foothold.

Yes, Wurzel, she's quite orange ... and may have been tangoed.

BWs, Neil