Phew!

22/7/2022

Week 16's transect was walked on Wednesday 20th July, the day after the UK recorded its highest ever temperature. GH, GK and BG started the transect at 10am and it was still quite hot at around the 30 degree mark but with a pleasant breeze.

As soon as we had begun the walk at Section 11, Stagbury Field, we started seeing newly emerged Chalkhill Blues flying over the Horseshoe Vetch patch that our group has nurtured over recent years. Stagbury Field is the only area that has this Vetch in abundance and because this is the natural food for the Chalkhill's caterpillars it is where we see the adult Chalkhill Blues. This got us off to a good start.

It was another day for seeing Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers, with both species recorded in most of the transect's 12 sections. We also saw a good number of the (second brood?) Common Blues. We recorded two Clouded Yellows in Fames Rough. We only see CYs once or twice in a season and it's interesting to note that for the past 3 years we've had our first sightings in Week 16. But the most exciting new arrivals spotted were two Purple Hairstreaks, who are also Week 16 regulars, flying around the oaks facing on to Hill Wood Field (Section 7). One PH posed patiently for us to photograph.

On the down side, the Small/Essex Skipper numbers have crashed since last week, with only one individual counted. Marbled White and Ringlet numbers were also significantly down.

Count Details:
139 Meadow Brown
86 Gatekeeper
20 Marbled White
14 Common Blue
9 Chalkhill Blue
7 Ringlet
4 Small White
3 Small Copper
2 Clouded Yellow
2 Large White
2 Purple Hairstreak
2 Silver-washed Fritillary
1 Small/Essex Skipper
1 Comma
1 Peacock
1 Speckled Wood

Summary:
294 butterflies from 16 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

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