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The final count

29/9/2020

We had a fine afternoon (Monday) for our final transect of 2020. The butterfly flight season is truly drawing to a close – we counted 23 from 6 species, all recorded in the first four sections (between Hither Field and Fames Rough). On last year's week 26 transect we counted only two!

Here's what we saw:
13 Common Blue
4 Meadow Brown
2 Small Copper
2 Small White
1 Brimstone
1 Small Heath
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Male Common Blue, Fames Rough

Concentrated Treacle

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

Female Common Darter, Fames Rough

Will it hatch? A Puffball with its own nest

Safely distant transectuals on Hill Wood Field

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Last but one transect

22/9/2020

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Monday's transect was our penultimate of this CV19-clipped season. The day's forecast was for good weather and we started our walk around just as the early low cloud started to let the sun through to raise the lowish temperature. We walked the route in reverse sequence in order to give Fames Rough a better chance to warm up. We'd walked from Section 12 to Section 6 (Harholt Plantation) before we saw our first butterfly and it was in Fames Rough that we saw most of today's count. The Meadow Browns that we have relied upon to boost our figures over the season were down to only 3 today. Top of our count list were the Common Blues, 19 (mainly females) were recorded. We also saw a late season Clouded Yellow.

Here are the count details:
19 Common Blue
3 Meadow Brown
3 Small Heath
2 Speckled Wood
1 Brimstone
1 Clouded Yellow
1 Comma
1 Small Copper
1 Small White
Total: 32 butterflies from 9 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Survey by Graham H, Brian Gardner and Roger Vye submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report and pics by Brian G.
Click on pics to enlarge.

Female Common Blue

Delicious-looking but deadly: nightshade berries

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Heat up, numbers down

15/9/2020

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Monday's transect was walked in an unusually high September temperature that averaged 24 degees during our walk around. Conditions were ideal but with only 38 butterflies recorded, our count was a few down on last week's. As usual, we saw more Meadow Browns than any other species with Common Blues second in the number rankings. As we frequently witness, numbers vary from week to week and one year to the next. Here are previous Week 24 counts for comparison: for 2016, 69; 2018,14; 2019, 46; 2020, 38 (we didn't do a transect on week 24 of 2017).

Here are the details of the count:
15 Meadow Brown
9 Common Blue
4 Small Copper
3 Brimstone
3 Chalkhill Blue
2 Small Heath
1 Large White
1 Speckled Wood
Total: 38 butterflies from 8 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Treacle seeking shade with her ball.

Survey by Graham H, Brian Gardner, Graham K and Roger Vye submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian G. Pics by Graham K and Brian G.
Click on pics to enlarge.

Female Common Blue, Fames Rough

Brimstone, Barn Field

Small Copper, Stagbury

Speckled Wood - Brian G

Bonus creature

Young Lizard enjoying the sunshine on Coneyboro Hill

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Brown Hairstreaks make the day

7/9/2020

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When we started the conditions were borderline suitability: cool, cloudy and breezy and we saw only a Meadow Brown in Section 1. Fortunately, after that the weather improved sufficiently for butterflies to be up and about and from Section 2 onwards we recorded a reasonable, if reduced count. Meadow Browns were still the most numerous, with 27 seen. The second highest score was for Small Whites, 7 seen. The highlight of the morning was the sighting of 2 or maybe 3 Brown Hairstreaks flying along the line of oaks in Section 7 (Hill Wood Field) where we see Purple Hairstreaks in July most years.

Here's what we saw:
27 Meadow Brown
7 Small White
4 Small Heath
3 Large White
2 Brown Hairstreak
1 Brown Argus
1 Chalkhill Blue
1 Common Blue
1 Red Admiral
1 Small Copper
Total: 48 from 10 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Survey by Graham H, Brian Gardner, Graham K and Roger Vye submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian G. Pics by Graham K and Brian G.
Click on pics to enlarge.