Blog Archives

Hot stuff

28/8/2019

With temperatures rising above the 30 degree mark, yesterday's transect was an exceptionally hot one. This unusual late season heat has encouraged the flowers on which the butterflies feed to carry on producing nectar and correspondingly our butterflies are still around in reasonable numbers (albeit in fewer species), especially the Meadow Browns, Common Blues and Brown Arguses and Small Heaths.

We recorded a total of 249 butterflies across 9 species. For the equivalent week's transect in 2016 our count was 165 from 11 species, in 2017 it was139 from 12, and last year it was 60 from 9. There's quite a difference between 2018 and this year.

Count details:

115 Meadow Brown
49 Common Blue
28 Brown Argus
26 Small Heath
8 Large White
4 Chalkhill Blue
2 Small White
1 Brimstone
2 Gatekeeper

Click on butterfly names for more info.

Male Common Blue, Stagbury

Survey on 28-8-19 by Brian G, Graham H and Graham K, submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Info by Brian G. Pics by Graham K.

Click on pics to enlarge.

0 Comments

Summer returns

24/8/2019

0 Comments

Summer returned for Friday's transect. We had warm sunny weather all the way round and this brought out the butterflies, especially the Meadow Browns, Common Blues and Brown Arguses.

Here are the details of yesterday's count:

123 Meadow Brown
38 Common Blue
34 Brown Argus
12 Chalkhill Blue
9 Small Heath
9 Small White
7 Brimstone
3 Gatekeeper
2 Silver-washed Fritillary
2 Small Copper
1 Large White

Total: 240 butterflies across 11 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Small Copper, Fames Rough

Survey on 23-8-19 by Brian G, Graham H and Graham K, submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Info by Brian G. Pics by Graham K.
Click pics to enlarge.

0 Comments

Weather window

16/8/2019

0 Comments

This week's variable weather gave us a small window of opportunity in which to do our transect on Thursday, and for most of our walk around the sky was virtually clear, providing excellent conditions. Upon starting out in Section 1 (Hither Field) we saw straight away that the field had been mowed, clearing the grass and with it most of the wildflowers. We were relieved to see that some of our nurtured Kidney Vetch, being a low-level plant, had escaped the mower blades so there is still some hope that the patch will have seeded next year's plants.

Butterfly numbers are declining by the week but Meadow Browns are still seen in reasonable numbers; the Chalkhill and Common Blue numbers are holding steady despite having a poor season and Brown Argus even showed a slight increase over last week's figure.

Here are the details of what we saw:

122 Meadow Brown
20 Chalkhill Blue
17 Common Blue
15 Brown Argus
7 Small Heath
7 Gatekeeper
6 Small Copper
4 Large White
3 Brimstone
3 Small White
2 Dark Green Fritillary
1 Small/Essex Skipper
1 Silver-washed Fritillary
1 Speckled Wood

Summary: 208 butterflies across 14 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Survey on 15-8-19 by Brian G and Graham H.
submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Info and pics by Brian G.

Chalkhill Blue

Silver-washed Fritillary

Small Copper on Scabious

Common Blue

0 Comments

Calm before the storm

9/8/2019

0 Comments

Yesterday was the last warm fine weather (with intermittent cloud cover) before the forecast summer storm hit overnight. The late season decline in numbers is becoming quite noticeable now. The Marbled Whites and Small/Essex Skippers were absent today; Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns are still around but in fewer numbers and the number of Chalkhills was probably at its peak. The long-predicted horde of Painted Ladies (the butterflies, of course) has still not reached our patch yet but we recorded and photographed one individual in Section 1.

Here are the details of what we saw:

111 Meadow Brown
64 Gatekeeper
35 Chalkhill Blue
12 Common Blue
7 Brown Argus
5 Brimstone
4 Large White
2 Small Heath
2 Dark Green Fritillary
2 Silver-washed Fritillary
2 Ringlet
2 Small Copper
1 Painted Lady

Common Blue on Marjoram

Summary: 249 butterflies across 13 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Survey on 8-8-19 by Brian G and Graham H.
submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Info and pics by Brian G.

Painted Lady

Chalkhill Blue

Dark Green Fritillary

0 Comments

Butterfly Blog

Hot stuff

Summer returns

Weather window

Calm before the storm

The Transect Team

Archives

Categories

Send us an email*

Butterfly Blog

Hot stuff

Summer returns

Weather window

Calm before the storm

The Transect Team

Archives

Categories

​​

Send us an email*