The week's weather was forecast to deteriorate after the weekend and so we decided to do this year's final transect on Sunday afternoon. In anticipation of the Ramblers Rest car park being full for a lunchtime start, we parked in Holly Lane and picked up the transect route at the fenced-off pit in Stagbury Field and then proceeded in anti-clockwise (reverse) sequence from Section 10.
We saw no butterflies at all in our first two sections (10 and 9) and a single Red Admiral in Section 8 (Barn Field). In Section 7 (Hill Wood Field) we saw four butterflies, including a close-up view of a Brown Hairstreak who posed nicely for the camera. From Sections 7 and back to 12 there were only a handful of Meadow Browns and Common Blues, but also a passing Clouded Yellow on Section 2 (Hither Field).

On Monday, the day chosen  for our transect, the hot weather returned and it was oppressively humid too. The warmth and late-summer sunshine brought out the year's remaining butterflies and also a Red Admiral and  Small Tortoiseshell that could over-winter through to next year, if they can feed up sufficiently and find suitable shelter for their hibernation.  
 
This week's total count of 141 butterflies is the highest week 23 score since we started doing the transects in 2016 when the count was 62. It was 66 in 2017, 35 in 2018, 112 in the superb butterfly summer of 2019,  and 48 in 2020.  However, this week's count is no indicator of any upward trend, as 2021's annual count looks like it will result in a lower than average total number. Below right are annual figures for three common species that show marked or even alarming declines.  These drops in numbers may be due to normal seasonal variations or may be proof of an overall deterioration in environmental conditions.