Butterfly Conservation is a registered charity dedicated to the conservation of butterflies and moths. You can find out more about the national organisation here.
The SxBC photo competition is back!
We're inviting photographers to submit their best Sussex butterfly photographs to our annual competition. Whether it's a rare species in flight or a perfect close-up of delicate wing patterns, we want to see it.
The results will be announced at the Members Day held on Sunday the 22nd November. For more information click here.
To see the 2025 winning entries click here.
We have a busy programme of working parties all over the county starting in October into March. This has been a wonderful summer for butterflies and with your help we can make 2027 even better.
Information about all the sessions can be found here.
Anyone can post photos of butterflies they have seen in Sussex. Recent sightings include:
13 Oct: Walked the penultimate leg of the Ouse Valley Way from Lewes to Newhaven. Drizzle kept the butterflies away till the sun emerged at Rodmell when there were Red Admiral and Speckled Wood. Later there was Large White and Small White and at Newhaven Clouded Yellow and Holly Blue. Nice to see six cattle egret just north of Rodmell
13 Oct: After the morning rain it was warm and sunny in the afternoon and headed for the Amberley Downs. Unfortunately it was a little too breezy but I did manage around 20 Clouded Yellows, 2 female Brimstones. 6 Small Whites and 1 Small Copper. Plenty of wildflowers to provide nectar.
13 Oct: Martin was right. The season at Goring & West Worthing isn't entirely over. It was very warm at 3.30pm when I was walking from behind the sailing club and then down by the shingle west of George V Avenue. I saw a Red Admiral, 8 Small Whites & 8 Clouded Yellows. One of these disturbed a Long-tailed Blue (at the grid reference given - ie near the unusual round public toilet). Near George V Ave another disturbed a Common Blue which I didn't see settle, but its blueness looked fresh & bright. Further on, near Wallace Avenue (the sun had gone in by now) a Small Copper was still out on bed-edging timber. I've seen one in this very spot a about a week ago, so this may have been the same one.
13 Oct: After 12 o'clock the sun shone brilliantly and it was t-shirt warm. In my garden the minimum counts were 2 Clouded Yellow, male Holly Blue, male Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Small White, 2 Humming-bird Hawk-moth, 2 Silver Y, a late stage Toadflax Brocade larvae (which seems late to me?), 8 Common Lizard.
13 Oct: Once the drizzle had cleared we were left with a sunny afternoon and a temperature of 20c. A visit to Herstmonceux Castle found just two butterflies, a fresh Small Copper and an equally fresh looking Clouded Yellow.
13 Oct: No photos and no Queen of Spain but a 45 minute stroll at Castle Hill in the sun turned up 11 Clouded Yellow, 4 Common Blue, 3 Small Copper, 1 Red Admiral and 1 Small Heath. I think John Heys moth yesterday is a Pearly Underwing, a migrant not infrequently seen in the autumn rather than a Chamomile Shark which only flies until July.
11 Oct: sun 11/10/2026 Abbot's Wood, E,Sx. After finding 21x Brown Hairstreak eggs on this new cleared site, found three more today bringing the total to 24x eggs, and the one trackside 25x. This new site is 826m due south of last years BH hot spot at Milton Hyde. Saw 2x Speckled Woods, 1x Red Admiral and found a Hornet on a bracken frond, I got it on my finger for a closer look, what a beauty. Later at TV 616 992 in Langney Road, Eastbourne 1x Red Admiral in egg laying mode and a Holly Blue flying about.
11 Oct: We walked with from Southwater Country Park along the Downslink path as far as Christ's Hospital school, then back. Not cold but little sunshine. We were on the old bridge over what was the west end of Southwater Station (it's wide as it carries a now closed section of the old main road and has useful nectaring sources on it) when Val spotted a Small White and our daughter a Comma. We didn't see any other butterflies on the walk or in the Country Park. At home I found a dead moth which Google lens says is most likely a Chamomile Shark. It could be - the Atlas of Britain and Ireland's Larger Moths shows they peak in spring and early summer, but there looks to be a tiny entry for October. What's more we had a very healthy self seaded chamomile plant in a pot near where I found the corpse.
Click here for more sightings.
Our branch is organising many butterfly walks in the summer across the county.
Our next events are:
22 Nov: Sussex BC Members Day 2026
Information on all our walks and other events can be viewed here.
Photo by Graham Hubbard
New colonies of Wood White were recently discovered in West Sussex and our branch is planning to learn more about this rare butterfly.
We are organising a coordinated survey and are looking for volunteers. For more information on the Wood White Project in Sussex click here.
Photo by Graham Hubbard
Throughout the year we receive interesting sightings records. We have started an exercise to identify notable sightings and look for patterns during a month with a little help from an AI assistant.
To read more click here.
07 Oct: Branch MEMBERS DAY update
07 Aug: Annual Cotoneaster bashing on the Buckle by-pass (A259), Seaford
30 Jun: Martin Kalaher's Open Garden Sunday 12th July.
24 Jun: Scotney Castle - More opportunity to explore
27 Mar: Butterfly Recording Training at National Trust Woolbeding
22 Mar: 2026 walks now appear on the Events Page
28 Feb: Liz Williams Butterfly Haven work day
16 Jan: A summary of Sussex BC work parties in 2026
23 Oct: SxBC Members' Day - Saturday 22nd November 2025 1.30pm – 4.30pm. Latest Update
White Admiral, photo by Maurilio Tesa
Martin Kalaher has written a very interesting article titled 'Partial broods in 2025' to read the article click here.
Last month Martin published 'Second brood Dingy Skippers'. To read that article click here.
Photo from our 2025 competition.
Sussex is one of the best counties in the UK to see a wide range of interesting butterfly species.
More information on species can be viewed here.
_sm.jpg)
There are many important sites for butterflies in our county.
Information on some of them can be viewed here.
Orange-tip by Gary Faulkner
The results of the 2025 SxBC photo competition were announced at the recent Members' Day.
To see the winning entries click here.
Latest feeds ...
Please remember, you can raise money for your favourite Butterfly Conservation Branch every time you shop online simply by clicking on the easyfundraising logo below and then signing up to support our cause.
