Chalkhill Blues and Silver-spotted Skippers take centre stage

After a couple of last-minute postponements, GH, LN and BG completed Transect 18 on the morning of Tuesday 4th August. The weather was pleasantly mild whenever the sun disappeared behind cloud, but temperatures climbed rapidly when the sunshine returned – ideal conditions for the butterflies.We started and finished our walk in Stagbury Field, an important site for two of our chalk grassland specialists. Here we recorded 45 Chalkhill Blues, thanks to a large patch of its larval food plant, horseshoe vetch. Stagbury Field is also the only place on our transect route where we see rare Silver-spotted Skippers, which lay their eggs on the sheep’s fescue grass – we recorded 6 SSKs on this transect. The total count was a few hundred down on last week’s but, at 674, the number is still high in comparison with previous week 18s. Once again, it was the Meadow Browns, Common Blues and Small Heaths (as well as the Chalkhill Blues) that boosted the total score. For the second week in succession we saw a few colourful and speedy Clouded Yellow butterflies.
​Although moths are not included in our survey, it's worth mentioning that over recent weeks we have regularly seen the spectacularly agile Humming-bird Hawk Moths flying around Hill Wood Field.

Count details:
407 Meadow Brown
104 Common Blue
55 Small Heath
45 Chalkhill Blue
14 Small White
12 Gatekeeper
7 Clouded Yellow
​7 Small Copper
6 Silver-spotted Skipper
5 Dingy Skipper
4 Brown Argus
3 Painted Lady
2 Speckled Wood
1 Holly Blue
1 Large White
1 Silver-washed Fritillary

​Count Summary:
674 butterflies from 16 species.

If you would like to know more about any of the butterfly species mentioned, visit ​butterfly-conservation.org

Spotting the Blues
Check out these local butterfly species, showing underside and upperside.

Mating Chalkhill Blues - Liz North

Mating Common Blues - Richard Carter

Chalkhilll Blue - Liz North

Common Blue - Brian Gardner

On the left: Chalkhill Blues.  On the right: Common Blues.

This week's survey by Graham Harris, Liz North and Brian Gardner submitted to 
​Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
​Report by GK, BG & AI. Header photo of Small Tortoiseshell by Liz North.