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The rest of my visit to Windover was rewarded with a good selection of species. The most numerous being
the Chalkhill Blue, these were seen all the way up from the road and at the top of the hill, a large number of which
were females. Two mating pairs were seen.
No visit to Windover Hill would be complete without a search for Grayling, at this time of year. I actually wore two
Grayling during my visit, one on my jeans, and another on my shoe !. About six were seen including a wing flapping
session with very brief open wings. Unfortunately I was too slow to capture the open wings, but David M. has shots
of this behaviour in his diary, taken at the weekend.
Silver spotted Skippers were plentiful on the Grayling site, but very quick and easy to lose in the strong breeze.
Also seen in low numbers Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Small Copper, Common Blue, Red Admiral and Burnet Moth.

There was a bit of a brown theme to the Butterflies seen today.
The weather looked excellent for Brown Hairstreak hunt, so I set off for Steyning.
As I arrived too early for the BH. I had plenty of time to explore new areas of the site ( for me ).
I met one of the Steyning regulars, Gary, at the top of the site, who was also looking for BH.
For about an hour some Wall Brown males ( see also my previous diary page ), and a few Brown Argus
provided ample entertainment, and a few reasonable images.
By now it was time to head down to the fenced area to seriously scan the area for Brown Hairstreak.
After about an hour of fruitless searching I sat down on the style, in the fence for a rest. I saw Gary
approaching and stood up to let him over the style and there was a female Brown Hairstreak right
under my nose !, or more correctly perched on top of a wild Parsnip seed head, a couple of feet away.
She moved location a couple of times, allowing plenty of photo opportunities.

Trevor

Trevor,

Nice shots of the Brown Hairstreak. Blimey is it that time of year already.

Regards Kev

Lovely to see a fresh female Brown Hairstreak, Trevor, even though it heralds the waning of the season. Great shots (and of the Walls as well - now's the time to head for Steyning, clearly, to see both!)

Dave

What would we do without Brown Hairstreaks?

Yes, a sign that the season is nearing its end, but with a glorious conclusion!

If I had to choose a Butterfly for my top 10 best finds this year, then this Beautiful female Common Blue
would surely be worthy of a place.
Taken at High and Over this morning.

Many thanks Kev, David and Dave ( millerd )

At Steyning rifle range there is another reminder of the time of year !.

Anyone visiting PLEASE BE AWARE there is an under ground Wasp nest just inside the fenced area,
right by the stile ( which is the only access to the area at the moment.)

Have a safe visit,
Trevor. P

Hi Trevor, it's lovely to see such a beautiful fresh female Brown Hairstreak, yes August came round much too fast - again! Your post with all those Wall Browns is amazing.. actually behaving themselves
Your post showing the Pirbright Grayling is interesting as the site is not too far from us. This pic shows the site in mid March, Martian springs to mind. It's amazing that SS Blues or Grayling survived in any numbers!
Hope it recovers? You can get the photo deleted, sorry to clutter your diary

Mike

HI Mike,

Your image can stay in my diary as a reminder of what a nature reserve shouldn't look like !.
I am sure the Grayling and SSB population must have suffered with the loss of breeding habitat.
However there was still some very fine Heather to be found. Finding the Grayling was hard work.

All the best,
Trevor.

This morning I visited Noar Hil,l near Selbourne, in Hampshire for the very first time
With Doug driving, I had the luxury of the passenger seat. We arrived at about 10.30 and soon
met Pauline who very kindly gave us a guided tour, not only of the site, but also some of the
Brown Hairsreak hot spots.
We had only just started searching for BH when I spotted a female nectaring on Hemp Agrimony.
This combination posed a problem I hadn't forseen. The nature of the Hemp Agrimony flower head
is such that only part of the Brown Hairstreak is visible at any time !.
This early sighting bode well for the rest of the visit, but no more were seen low down.
I did however come home with images of Brown Argus, Brimstone, Common Blue.
Red Admirals and Peacocks were in the hundreds over the site.

Trevor.

On the way home late this afternoon, I spent a very worthwhile hour at Eartham Woods.
Two surprises awaited me. First, a male Silver Washed Fritillary in very good condition, this was surprising
as five weeks ago I was seeing tatty ones.
The next surprise was a pristine Painted Lady, only my third sighting of the year ( so far ).
Other Butterflies seen, many fresh Peacocks, Red Admirals, and particularly Brimstones.
The season may be on the wane but this afternoon was a real treat.

Trevor.

We went to Steyning today to look for Brown Hairstreak. I didn't see any low down,
but B.Saurus Rex found one, and Doug and another visitor had a BH land briefly ,it had gone by the time I got there.
My lucky moment came when I spotted a pair of mating Meadow Browns on the tip of a branch.

Trevor.

Hi Trevor, shame we missed you at Noar hill on Friday, nice shots of the female BH on the Hemp Agrimony. We arrived late but the site was still heaving with Red Admirals and Peacocks and Brimstone numbers were pretty good too.

Mike

This morning I set out hoping to track down two species, and had some success.
Firstly I stopped off at High and Over, hoping to find some female Wall Browns. Two were seen
but refused to settle for the camera, however one male Wall did pose nicely.
A very fresh Small Tortoiseshell was also found basking, numbers of these seem to be building.

Then it was time to move on to Tide Mills, near Newhaven, one of the best places to find Clouded Yellows.
On arrival, near the beach the first of seven Clouded Yellows seen, flew past and disappeared into the distance.
In the heat they were very lively, but one was seen to settle in some short grass, but unfortunately was in a very bad
position for photography. My apologies for the poor image.
Common Blues were seen in good numbers, mostly males were seen.

On arrival at home, a Painted Lady was found resting in my garden.

Trevor.

With the weather set to deteriorate, according to the forecasts, over the next few days, I decided
that today offered the best chance of finding some Brown Hairstreaks.
I arrived at Steyning at 09.45, and settled in for what seemed a long drawn out day, certainly the first
Butterfly took a long while to appear, and was very much the worse for wear.
From my vantage point under a shady tree, I spotted the next two BH on the small Blackthorn bushes
in the meadow, both were almost perfect with minimal wing damage.
I then went for a wander to search for more BH, as I returned to the main area the fourth and final
Butterfly had been found by fellow enthusiasts, just inside the fenced area. This particular BH flew
several times to nearby vegetation giving her audience some fine views at times.
So ended a very good day !.

Glad someone got some action today...

Great to see your Brostreaks Trevor - hopefully the weather won't be as bad as all that - they seem to be showing an ever improving picture on the Met App, fingers crossed

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great BH photos, Trevor. Perfect tails - which is not easy to find...

Dave

Impressive stuff, Trevor. Lots of yellow (both Brimstone and Clouded) along with, of course, immaculate Brown Hairstreaks!

Nice meeting you Trevor; you got some excellent shots. Here are a couple of mine.
And one from the previous week.