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Timely weather

31/8/2024

GH, GK and BG chose Friday, 30th August, for transect 22. The weather was fine, warm with only a light NE wind: just right for seeing late-season butterflies. We were relieved that the numbers counted had recovered following last week's cold weather plummet.

The Meadow Browns, Brown Argus, Common Blues and Small Heaths were still quite numerous and our Chalkhill Blues were just about holding on. Hill Wood Field's Purple Hairstreaks, which we've seen over the 5 weeks, seem to have finished but we had a single Brown Hairstreak pose nicely for us, only to disappear as soon we tried to get a photo. We also had our first sighting this year of a Green-veined White, in Stagbury Field. Speckled Woods have been seen singly this season but on transect 22 we recorded four.

Count details:
101 Meadow Brown
30 Brown Argus
11 Common Blue
7 Small Heath
4 Brimstone
4 Speckled Wood
3 Large White
2 Chalkhill Blue
1 Brown Hairstreak
1 Green-veined White
1 Small Copper
Count summary:
165 butterflies from 11 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info from Butterfly Conservation.

Survey by Brian G, Graham H and Graham K submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian Gardner.
Pics by Graham Kenward and Brian Gardner.

Green-veined Whiite -GK

Meadow Brown, Fames Rough -BG

Large White -GK

Speckled Wood, Coneyboro Hill -GK

Devil's Bit Scabious, Coneyboro HIll -BG

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First Brown Hairstreaks of the season

28/8/2024

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GH and BG walked transect 21 (only 5 more to the season's end) on Sunday afternoon in a mix of warm sun and cloud, with a gusting SW wind. This followed on from the previous day's long stretch of rain, which would have greatly reduced the number of butterflies seen on the transect. So that where we saw, for example, 290 Meadow Browns and 41 Common Blues last week, on Sunday these species were down to 64 MBs and 4 CBs. The Chalkhill Blues were still around on Stagbury Field. The highlight of the day was the season's first sighting of 2 Brown Hairstreaks flying around Hill Wood Field's oak trees, where we also saw 2 Purple Hairstreaks.

Count details:
64 Meadow Brown
6 Chalkhill Blue
4 Common Blue
3 Small Heath
2 Brown Argus
2 Brown Hairstreak
2 Purple Hairstreak
1 Gatekeeper
1 Silver-washed Fritillary
1 Speckled Wood
Count summary:
86 butterflies from 10 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info from Butterfly Conservation.

Survey by Brian G and Graham H submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report and pics by Brian Gardner.

Brown Argus, Fames Rough

Common Blue, HIll Wood Field

Mating Chalkhill Blues, Stagbury

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Meadow Browns still high

20/8/2024

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Saturday (17th) was another transect walked in perfect warm and calm butterfly weather. Although the summer is nearing its close the butterfly numbers are holding up pretty well, helped largely by the unusually high Meadow Brown figures for this point in the season (they've normally already begun their decline by week 20). Gatekeeper numbers have dipped suddenly this week to 18 from last week's 102, Brimstones are down from 16 to 3, and the Skippers seem to have finished. On the plus side, 18 long-awaited Chalkhill Blues were seen on Stagbury Field, 41 second-brood Common Blues were counted on several of our sections, and the Brown Argus (second brood) count increased from 2 last week to 13 on this transect. For the fourth week flitty Purple Hairstreaks were still flying around the oak trees on Hill Wood Field.

Count details:
290 Meadow Brown
41 Common Blue
18 Gatekeeper
13 Brown Argus
10 Chalkhill Blue
4 Small Heath
4 Purple Hairstreak
3 Brimstone
3 Small White
2 Silver-washed Fritillary
1 Speckled Wood
Count summary:
389 butterflies from 11 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info from Butterfly Conservation.

Survey by Brian G, Graham H, Liz N and Graham K submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian Gardner.
Pics by Liz North, Graham Kenward and Brian Gardner.

Brown Argus, Fames Rough -LN

Common Blue, Stagbury -BG

Mating Common Blues, Fames Rough -LN

Chalkhill Blue, Stagbury -GK

Silver-washed Fritillary, Fames Rough -GK

Teazels, Hill Wood Field -BG

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Numbers still high

12/8/2024

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This week's transect was walked on Friday morning in fine, warm weather that was perfect for maintaining butterfly numbers: rain, strong winds or cold at this time of the year could bring about an early close to the butterflies' flight season.

In Friday's favourable conditions, the Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers once again provided three-figure numbers to boost our count total, and we also had a slight rise in the second-brood Brimstones, Common Blues and Brown Argus. The Small/Essex Skipper, Marbled White and Small Heath numbers are now in decline, while Silver-washed Fritillaries and Purple Hairstreaks are holding steady. This week was the final week of the normal high point for sighting Chalkhill Blues and, at last, we found them, but sadly only four – two on Stagbury Field's Horseshoe Vetch patch and a single on each of Hither and Coneyboro Fields.

Count details:
265 Meadow Brown
102 Gatekeeper
18 Common Blue
16 Brimstone
4 Silver-washed Fritillary
6 Small/Essex Skipper (incl. 1 confirmed Small Skipper)
5 Purple Hairstreak
4 Chalkhill Blue
2 Brown Argus
2 Dark Green Fritillary
2 Marbled White
2 Small Heath
2 Small White
1 Peacock
1 Speckled Wood
Count summary:
432 butterflies from 14 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info from Butterfly Conservation.

Survey by Brian G, Graham H and Graham K submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian Gardner.
Pics by Graham Kenward and Brian Gardner.

Chalkhill Blue, Stagbury -GK

Brown Argus, Fames Rough -GK

Dark Green Fritillary, Coneyboro Hill -GK

Worn Dark Green Fritillary -GK

Male Common Blue -GK

Female Common Blue -GK

Purple Hairstreak, HIll Wood Field - BG

Small Skipper, Fames Rough -GK

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Record number of Meadow Browns

4/8/2024

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We chose the morning of Friday 3rd August for transect 18 as it was forecast to be cooler than the previous sweltering days. It followed the heavy downpour and thunderstorm of the evening before and, as we started our walk, the early mist was starting to thin. Fortunately, it was warm enough for butterflies to be flying. As the sun slowly broke through the cloud the warmth increased, so that eventually it was hot and humid, but the butterflies seemed to like it. This was one of the rare occasions that we saw butterflies (in this case Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers) in all 12 transect sections: we counted 363 MBs (our highest ever) and 130 GKs. We also saw second-broods of Brown Argus, Common Blue, Brimstone and Red Admiral. The Purple Hairstreaks were flying around Hill Wood Field's oak trees – just as difficult to spot as last week but fortunately sociable enough to pose for photographs. According to BCT's records the peak of the Chalkhill Blues' flight period is between 22nd July and 12th August each year but, with little more than a week remaining of this period, we are still waiting for our first sighting.

Count details:
363 Meadow Brown
130 Gatekeeper
7 Common Blue
7 Small/Essex Skipper (incl. confirmed 1 Essex and 2 Small Skipper)
6 Marbled White
5 Purple Hairstreak
5 Brimstone
2 Small Heath
2 Silver-washed Fritillary
1 Brown Argus
1 Large White
1 Red Admiral
1 Small White
1 Speckled Wood
Count summary:
531 Butterflies from 14 species.

Click on butterfly names for more info from Butterfly Conservation.

Survey by Brian G, Graham H, Graham K and Liz N submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian Gardner.
Pics by Graham Kenward.

Brown Argus, Fames Rough