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Having unexpectedly had a considerable amount of time on my hands this summer I spent a depressing amount of it on the Dorset Downs surveying former Grayling haunts in the hope of discovering a surviving population on the inland chalk. Sadly I drew a blank and it really does look as if the chalk downland Grayling colonies are a thing of the past in Dorset until one ventures near the coast.

Even here the news is poor: the last one seen on the Ballard Down transect in 2003.
The new walks which have been carried out along the Purbeck Ridge for the last 3 years have not turned up a single sighting.
It has not appeared on the Durlston West Transect since 2005.
Last year Durlston East had a count of 2.
Even in Portland numbers seem to be falling.

On a more positive note there have been some puzzling single sightings in the last few years – one, which was photographed , was found roosting on the facia boards of a house in Pimperne; another turned up in a garden at Bryanston; and Hod Hill had a surprise one on transect in 2005. It would seem that there could well be an extant colony somewhere in the vicinity.

Has anyone seen Grayling this year on the Dorset chalk? - either inland or on the coast Ballard, Durlston, Portland etc.) if so I would be interested (and very grateful) to receive your records which shall be passed to Dorset BC.

Thanks in advance.
Felix.

Hi Felix,

One sighted at Durlston this morning.
See, http://www.durlston.co.uk/index.php?id= ... =2&nid=119

Denise

Excellent!!!

thanks Denise.

Hi - Not sure whether it's chalk or not but Grayling certainly present inland on the heathland at Sandford near Wareham first week in August.

Felix, I haven't been over to Ballard Down recently, but I have always seen the Grayling predominantly near the top of the down, where conditions are more acid. There is an area with Ling and Bell Heather, where it can be quite numerous. I think sightings from lower down are probably mostly wanderers from higher up. I recently walked from Ulwell to Corfe Castle and saw none, and no Chalkhill Blues either, another species that has almost vanished from the Purbeck chalk.

Misha

I photographed one at Durlston, quite close to the shop on 12-08-09. Click below to see this pic, it's the only Grayling pic i have.

Mikhail wrote:Felix, I haven't been over to Ballard Down recently, but I have always seen the Grayling predominantly near the top of the down, where conditions are more acid. There is an area with Ling and Bell Heather, where it can be quite numerous. I think sightings from lower down are probably mostly wanderers from higher up. I recently walked from Ulwell to Corfe Castle and saw none, and no Chalkhill Blues either, another species that has almost vanished from the Purbeck chalk.

Misha

Hi Misha,

Many thanks for the zero report for the Ulwell to Corfe ridge. Unfortunately similar recent reports from Ballard suggest that the species has all but vanished from there also. When I lived in Bournemouth early in the century I would often see the butterfly in late August when I visited Ballard Down to look at the Adonis Blue and Wall Brown.

The only positive (and exciting) report to come from recent surveys is the discovery of a small Marram Grass population.

Felix.

Dave wrote:Hi - Not sure whether it's chalk or not but Grayling certainly present inland on the heathland at Sandford near Wareham first week in August.

Thanks Dave,

This sighting would be part of the acid heathland colonies. Even these once substantial colonies have been shown to be in decline in Dorset; recording consistent falls in numbers. Certainly in some cases this is due to vegetative succession as unmanaged heathland matures, however some declines closer to urban areas have been attributed to nutrient enrichment of the habitat caused by canine deposits, encouraging the growth of lush grasses and bracken.

Felix.

A slit bit of positive news, we saw a Grayling just over the fence from Porton Down last week, the guy in charge of the Porton Down SSSI, told me two years ago that they had gone extinct there.

Gruditch

Gosh! All this is a little bit worrying.

Sorry this is a bit late, just to say that last year in mid July I saw a Grayling on Ballard Down (it may have been 2 individuals, I'm afraid I don't have my records to hand!) It was seen in a patch where gorse had been cleared, quite near the top of the down, unfortunately I wasn't able to visit this summer so I didn't have any opportunity to look for them again. This year though I did see a few individuals around Tout Quarry on Portland. I haven't been living here for that long, so I've missed the days when they were more common on the Dorset chalk, but it still seems very sad that they may have completely disappeared from the inland sites.
On a slightly more positive note, I've had a lot more heathland Wall sightings this year than in the past, seeing butterflies at Creech, Stoborough, Hartland Moor and Higher Hyde Heath over the summer, I read that they used to be a lot more common on some of the heaths, so it would be great if numbers are picking up!


Best wishes,
Guy

Guy,

Interesting (particularly your Wall sightings on the heaths) and valuable records. Many thanks indeed. These will be passed to Dorset Butterfly Conservation.

Cheers,
Felix.

Grayling had a good year again on Bindon Hill which lies behind Lulworth Cove. They were also present in small numbers along the coast between Lulworth and White Nothe. I saw a rather tatty specimen on a track half a mile inland from Bats Head (west of Lulworth Cove) two days ago on Sunday October 18th. Although this seems very late I have recorded them in this area during October before. They generally do well on chalk sites when the turf is very short with regular patches of bare ground but seem able to persist on longer turf sites by using the edges of chalk tracks where they egg lay on fine grasses which hang down over the bare chalk. This niche is very similar to what they use on neutral to acid sites where I have regularly seen them behave rather like silver-spotted skippers, landing on bare ground and walking to the edges to find the larval foodplant. Like many UK species they are also searching for very warm spots to lay their eggs.