Calm before the storm

9/8/2019

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.