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Welcome Andy,
Looking forward to hearing about your butterfly exploits. What area are you from ? It is always good to hear about different areas of the UK over the course of the butterfly season.

Regards
Mike

Went to Abbots Wood this afternoon and with one other enthusiast saw several Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries in the large cleared area at the north end of the wood, which is currently a carpet of bluebells. It was a warmish afternoon and they were quite active, but I did manage to get a few shots, especially of one individual which I think was a female.

I'm in East Sussex but fairly close to the border with West Sussex, so I roam all over the county.

I climbed up Kithurst Hill from Storrington today, seeing several (10+) Dingy Skippers on the way up, together with 3-4 Green Hairstreaks. I then walked along to Kithurst Meadow, where I found several other enthusiasts observing Dukes of Burgundy. I saw 2, maybe 3, very fresh individuals. They were very torpid, despite the reasonably warm sunshine, so it was easy to get a camera lens to within a few inches of them.





I then visited Mill Hill on my way home. A cooler breeze was now blowing up the Adur valley from the sea, but I saw 4-5 Dingy Skippers, one Green Hairstreak and one (maybe 2) Wall Brown.

Hi Andy, It was really good to meet you and have a chat over at Abbots Wood last Monday afternoon photographing Pearl Bordered Fritillaries to the sound of a Nightingale - doesn't get much better 'or springlike' than that.

I'm looking forward to reading further entries your diary I'm hoping to see some Dukes this weekend.

All the best

B'saurus

My wife and I went to Abbots Wood again this afternoon for a stroll. Conditions were rather cloudy and the air temperature was cool, so there was hardly any butterfly activity. Fortunately, when we got to the bluebell-filled clearing at the north of the wood, the sun came out for a few minutes, and so did the Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries. I saw 2, maybe 3, individuals on the wing. I followed one which went to roost as the sun went back in again, and managed to get some very close-up shots as it sat there quite unconcerned with my camera lens less than 6 inches away. The upperside shot shows that this individual is getting a little worn now.

Having been out of the country for a month, I came back to quite a flurry about Purple Emperors on the Knepp Estate, so I couldn't wait to go there. My wife and I spent about 5 hours there today. Conditions in the morning were rather cooler than recently and we just saw a glimpse of one Emperor high up. However, there were plenty of Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Small Tortoiseshell on the wing. After an excellent lunch at the nearby Countryman pub (TQ136213), we resumed our search in the afternoon in much warmer conditions. We saw 9-10 individuals, all high up in oak trees and all in the northern part of what is called the "Southern Block" of the estate. This is roughly along the northern edge of the TQ1420 1km square. There is clearly a good population here, and I'm sure there were more up there looking at us than we saw from the ground. For me another interesting feature of this site is how open it is compared with other sites I have visited (e.g. Southwater). It is mainly cleared ground with rough grassland and scrub, together with several sallow plantations. The mature oaks tend to be in stands of 3-4 trees at the field margins, and it was on these that we saw the Emperors. There is also a good population of Marbled White in the rough grassland, e.g. around TQ140209.

Its just great to know the Purple Emperor are appearing in better numbers by the day Andy, some exciting days ahead methinks' Nice report too!

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

I didn't think any of my pics today would be any good, but here's an enlarged one of an Emperor up an oak tree at Knepp this afternoon.

I spent about 2 hours walking around the gallops above Butchershole this afternoon. This site saw an explosion of Chalkhill Blue numbers in 2012 and 2013, so I was interested to see if any had emerged yet. The answer is... yes... but only a few. I saw 4 in total, all near the entrance to the gallops just above the car park. However there were very good numbers of Marbled White, Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Small Heath, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper. Also, one female Dark Green Fritillary hunkering down in the grass. I plan to revisit several times over the next few weeks.

On a day trip away from my usual Sussex habitat, I couldn't resist the opportunity to call at Bentley Woods for an hour or so. It was around midday, sunny and warm, so most of the butterflies were very busy and kept on the wing. I saw a dozen or more Silver-Washed Fritillaries, all moving at frantic speed. Also 2 Purple Emperors: one briefly glimpsed high up and another at a crossroads west of the main car park, which briefly buzzed my wife and I, plus another enthusiast, before returning to the canopy. Oddly though, no White Admirals, but it was only a brief visit before family duties called.

Great stuff Andy, nice to hear that the Purps are starting to appear and increase in number The White Admirals are pretty mobile and I often find them deeper in the woods.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Is it just me, or is the Marbled White having an exceptionally good year? I went for a walk with a group of friends today near my home in East Sussex, not visiting any particular butterfly hotspots, and every uncut meadow was full of them. Overall, I think I saw more Marbled White than Meadow Brown. Has anyone else had a similar experience this year?

Were you the couple I chatted to at this crossroads whereupon the Emperor whizzed about us and ascended to the canopy?

Hi Andy,
Click here viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4065&start=1680 and look at my post for Friday June 27th.
BWs, Neil

Yes, David, that was us!

Hi Neil, thanks for pointing to me to your post about Marbled Whites. It's not just me then! There were also a lot on the downs at Butchershole last Tuesday -- probably the most common species on the open grassland, although there were very large numbers of skippers at the margins. I plan to go there again today to see how they are doing and whether more Chalkhill Blues have emerged.

Back to Butchershole this afternoon for another couple of hours and I did the same walk as on Tuesday. Chalkhill Blue numbers have increased very slightly, and I saw 8 in total at the sheltered NE and SW corners of the gallops. Hopefully, it's still early days and a larger emergence will happen over the next couple of weeks. Marbled White are still doing well.

Hi Andy,

Regarding Marbled Whites, I have just returned today from a weeks family holiday near Weymouth and they were all over the place down there in great numbers.

Cheers,

Neil.