Better butterfly weather

Just for a change the weather for Wednesday's transect was better than forecast, giving us a warm and mainly sunny morning for our walk around.
 
The Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers provided this week's big numbers, helped along by higher than usual counts of Peacocks and Brimstones. The Purple Hairstreaks were seen flying in the yew trees along the top edge of Fames Rough (Section 3) rather than the oaks bordering Hill Wood Field, where we saw them last week and over previous years.

Count details:
176 Meadow Brown
  79 Gatekeeper
  22 Chalk Hill Blue
  20 Brimstone
  14 Peacock
    9 Common Blue
    8 Marbled White
    8 Silver-washed Fritillary
    6 Ringlet
    5 Small Copper
    5 Small White
    2 Large White
    2 Purple Hairstreak
    1 Small/Essex Skipper
    1 Green-veined White
    1 Red Admiral
 Click on butterfly names for more info.
Total: 359 butterflies from 16 species.

Female Common Blue

Meadow Brown on Ragwort

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

Silver-washed Fritillary