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Great Wood Whites from Botany Bay, Trevor. I hope to get down there over the weekend sometime - I always overlook the second brood for some reason, and they are reliable on this site. Nice Brimstones, too. And I shall overlook the much flashier threesome you captured... Keep looking for that female Holly Blue too - I'm also waiting for the first one here.

Cheers,

Dave

Many thanks David and EssexB. Yes it is fortunate to have the Wood Whites within travelling
distance ( 53 miles ). I can't complain about my luck this year. The only disaster so far was a
long journey to see Marsh Frit. only to find drizzle and mist on arrival.

With a couple of hours to spare this morning i thought that another species specific hunt was in order.
My target was the Silver Spotted Skipper, so i drove to Malling Down overlooking Lewes, in E.Sussex
( a town that the 1960s planners didn't get their hands on ! ). Here i found what i was looking for almost
immediately, fortunately the temperature was still quite cool so for a while they were quite calm.
But very easy to lose once they took off.

TREVOR.

I had this welcome guest land on my patio this afternoon.

Hi Trevor, just catching up on your recent excursions, great reports and photos of a good selection of species

Cheers,

Neil.

Great Silver-spots Trevor, I particulary like the shot showing an attempt at mating

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I made the briefest of visits to the Downs this morning. I thought the beautiful female Common Blue
i found, basking, worth sharing.

TREVOR.

HI All,
This morning i managed to track down some very docile Wall Browns, each allowing me 1 to 2 secs.
to obtain an image. It was an all male show with every passing Butterfly challenged and seen off.
A tactic i employed to stand a chance of a shot was to find a favourite basking spot to which each
Butterfly would invariably return .
Also another ' blue ' female Common Blue made herself available for an image.

TREVOR.

I set out this morning specifically to look for Grayling. With the weather forecast for sunshine and breeze
i was a little surprised that the breeze was verging on a gale, especially on top of the Downs.
But the conditions may have been of some assistance. At the top of the long walk from the road there is a
thicket of wind blown scrub, which to my surprise was host to at least twenty male Wall Browns warming up
and sheltering from the wind, and none of them were in a hurry to escape from my camera! .
The result was the best set of images i have ever managed of this species.
Some lovely Small Coppers were found sunning themselves here too, including my first ' blue badge '
specimen of the year .
Chalkhill Blues were found in large numbers all the way from the road, and all over the Downs including
many females and a mating pair.
After all the above excitement i finally reached the Grayling site, which is on a very exposed, steep, hillside.
Here it really was blowing a gale, and it was some 20 mins. before i set eyes on my first Grayling taking off.
The difficult bit was keeping track of it in the wind but luckily it landed not too far away. In all i managed
shots of about six individuals. Some images have grass blades in the way, but this could not be avoided.
TREVOR.

Very nice male Wall Browns there Trevor, I didn't see any when I was up there last week. I notice the strong wind is back at least it helped you on this occasion.

All the best

James

Hi Trevor.
Thanks for your PM. Good to see and hear your success with the Wall Brown. I'm sure that will warrant a mention in the Wall Brown Report!! Windover is generally a good area for this species. My count that you mentioned was well down on previous years but it is still quite early in their 2nd brood. I am expecting a much better count in a week or so if I can fit it in although it will probably still be below recent years. With 8 years of growing numbers it is due for a drop!!

Cheers.
Bob.

As a postscript to this morning's Butterfly expedition i thought some images of the scenery from
Windover Hill may be of interest to those of you who are strangers to East Sussex.
I hope they might provide an incentive to visit this part of the world ( and it's Butterflies ! ).
Click on images twice for full panorama.

Enjoy.
TREVOR.

Hi Trever, great pics. I was in your neck of the woods this afternoon enjoying the scenary and chasing some Silver Spotted Skippers and Walls, with mixed results. I have to agree with the wind though, breezy my a***, thought I'd inadvertantly wandered into the Jet Stream at times!

Gosh Trevor, you've been busy! Lovely shots of the Wall Brown which is a species I struggle to see, mainly because of the distance . With scenery like that, worth the journey!

This morning i revisited the spot where exactly a week ago i found some Brown Argus. They were there in
slightly larger numbers, with some newly emerged. Whilst others showing signs of scratches to the wings.
The specimen photographed last week which i thought might be an AB was still there, unless there was another
with similar markings.
Finally this beautiful Red Admiral was found basking on one of my garden lights yesterday afternoon.

Making the most of the remaining season,
TREVOR.

I'm envious of those Walls, too Trevor. Lovely photos of a butterfly that never keeps still for me. I need to make a trip down to Sussex very soon...

Dave

Cracking Walls and Graylings Trevor and that BA loks very good for an Ab

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Fantastic shots of the Wall Trevor, I'm coming to Sussex next year, was planning on this year but got my plans mixed a bit with the bad weather, the countryside looks superb Goldie

I paid another visit to Windover Hill this morning, but this time the grey skies were very persistent .
I did see one male Wall that was quite approachable as were some Chalkhill Blues and three Graylings.
Throughout my visit the sun shone brightly in the distance

TREVOR.

You went home too early Trevor, the sun came out for about 10 minutes this afternoon!

ATB

James