Survey by Brian G, Graham K and Graham H,
​submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS). 
Info by Brian G.
Hover over pics for captions. Click on pics to enlarge.
​All pics © Graham Kenward 2019.

Last Friday's butterfly count was low; today's was zero in all sections of the transect. Not very surprising, since the weather was worse than forecast. We were almost desperate enough to record the couple of moths brave enough to flutter under the overcast sky and occasional droplets of rain. We stopped before the end to avoid further disappointment.

​Sadly, the Butterfly Orchid we found last week didn't last long in its unfortunately prominent position. The jury is out on the cause of its sudden disappearance.
Or maybe it's true that Bigfoot is real ...

Just for a change we walked the transect on a Friday. The weather was cloudy, breezy and around the minimum temperature for butterflies to be up and about. Bill Downey has recently reminded us that we should be prepared for the regular June gap in sightings before the main summer butterfly emergence but what we encountered was a chasm rather than a gap.

The total for the 12 sections was 18 across 5 species. We counted:
11 Common Blue
  3  Small Heath
  2  Dingy Skipper
  1  Holly Blue
  1 Speckled Wood
 Click on butterfly names for more info.
​
On a more encouraging note,  the Kidney Vetch (favoured by the Small Blue) is blooming on Hither Field as well as on our Stagbury patch, which recently benefited from some new planting.

And we can report that Horseshoe Vetch is in bloom across much of the Chalkhill Blue site, a tribute to the timely work put in by our volunteers.

With Andy's proposed Glow-worm survey approaching, it was good to find a larva on the path on Coneyboro Hill (see pic).

Nonetheless, the highlight of today's walk was finding a Butterfly Orchid. This was a first sighting of this plant and GH said that they are now uncommon – he hasn't seen one for around 15 years. ​

Despite the settled weather with hardly any breeze and hazy sunshine, butterfly numbers were noticeably lower than last week. Lots to see on our walk, though it was harder to spot some Fly and Tway Blade Orchids in flower, both in Fames Rough. And after all the grass-cutting on the Chalkhill Blue site this year, it was encouraging to see the Horseshoe Vetch in flower. It will be interesting to see how many Chalkhills appear in their season.

We recorded:
  1 Large Skipper
14 Dingy Skipper
  3 Grizzled Skipper
16 Brimstone 
  1 Orange Tip
11 Green Hairstreak
  2 Small Copper
  7 Common Blue
  2 Holly Blue
  6 Peacock
  1 Speckled Wood
13 Small Heath
Totalling 77 butterflies across 12 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.