Weather breaking?

17/8/2022

With this long, very hot and dry summer forecast to end shortly, this week's transect was done by GH, GK and BG on Monday in sultry conditions: a mix of sun and high cloud. The extreme dryness of the ground and desiccated vegetation didn't provide our butterflies with much in the way of flowers upon which to feed but, despite the harsh conditions, we recorded a reasonable number of butterflies from 11 species.

Starting once again on Stagbury Field (Section 11) in the Chalkhill Blues patch, with 8 counted and a further 6 seen on our return on the upper path (Section 10) as we finished our walk. Although this hasn't been a good year for Common Blues, they seem to be holding up well enough. We counted 23 of them, mainly in Fames Rough (Sections 3 & 4), Hill Wood Field (7) and Great Parsons Field (8). Worthy of note was our third Brown Argus of the year: our first dates back to early June and the second to early July – it has been a very poor season for them.

In Section 7 (Hill Wood Field) we came across a largish brown butterfly that glided rather than fluttered. We had a similar experience 2 weeks ago when we thought we'd found a rare (for our area) Grayling but without a photo it was not confirmed, so this time we went to considerable lengths to ensure we got a photograph of it but after investigation it is sadly thought to be a humble Meadow Brown.

Count Details:
85 Meadow Brown
23 Common Blue
14 Chalkhill Blue
4 Small Heath
3 Speckled Wood
2 Small White
1 Brimstone
1 Brown Argus
1 Clouded Yellow
1 Large White
1 Small Copper

Summary: 137 butterflies from 10 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 to enlarge.