Sussex Branch

Jonathan Crawford contacted me (on an unrelated matter) and in passing mentioned that he had seen Large White, Brimstone and Peacock near Lancing, today. (Martin Kalaher, Lancing)

A warm sunny afternoon in Market Street, between The British Telecom exchange and the Police Station, solitary Brimstone on marginal bushes. (Paul Harmes, Lewes) - TQ4110

Val & I had a longer walk than we'd intended. We went from Devil's Dyke to Saddlescombe & meant to return along the bottom of the Dyke but somehow found ourselves in Poynings where it was very pleasantly warm. This was a lucky detour. We saw a Brimstone as we neared the village and another (although it might have been a white - it was a very fleeting glimpse & it looked rather pale) as we were leaving to climb the 254 steps up to the north-facing top of the Dyke. As we emerged from the woods, we looked back & saw another butterfly, probably a Red Admiral. Up on the top a couple of silver-y moths were on the wing. The north car park was full of TV vans. Police cars with flashing lights were hazards on the road out. Not a real incident - they were filming "Grace" for ITV. As we neared the Devil's Dyke Road junction with the A27, Val saw another Red Admiral. (John Heys, Poynings)

Comma at Laughton church at about 1pm today. (Chris Hooker, Laughton)

Walked from home along the Eastern bank of the Adur as far as the cement-works and spotted a lively Brimstone in scrub close to an apple tree but it was very active and wouldn't settle for a photo. Likewise, in the afternoon on Mill Hill, below the lower car park I was startled by a Red Admiral but was again unable to capture a picture. Only two butterflies all day and no photos but I had better luck with the bird photos so the time wasn't wasted. (Alan Salter, River Adur, Shoreham-by-sea) - TQ198084

A fresh looking Speckled Wood was observed sunning itself on the ground. (Zenobia Hatch, West Walberton Lane) - SU9653206175

I seem to have posted the Silver Y image twice in error. The one I intended to post was this one. (Trevor Rapley, Hailsham) - TQ527021

A Peacock in the sunshine on the edge of Amberley village in the afternoon sunshine (Chris Corrigan , Amberley)

Red Admiral was on nettles left by the strimmers at Lancing extra mural cemetery. Also a Silver Y - couldn't find anything along Lancing seafront. (Lindsay Morris, North Lancing)

There was a very faded Small Copper on the Wisteria at the back of the house this afternoon. That makes ten species the membership have reported in November. The butterfly season seems to be getting longer! (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden) - TQ082140

Good to meet up with Trevor Rapley opposite the power station at Shoreham Harbour. Val & I had already seen a Clouded Yellow near the East/West Sussex border, but we didn't see anything else. The wind had turned too strong & cold despite the sunshine. Another pic with a very tiny butterfly in the distance, I'm afraid. (John Heys, Shoreham Port)

Intrigued by recent reports of fresh Holly Blues at Southwick, Shoreham harbour, I went to have a look for myself today. After some searching I found this very fresh female Holly Blue, this was the only butterfly today, but I did see two Silver Y moths. (Trevor Rapley, Hailsham) - TQ527021

Many thanks to our contractor, Graham Saunders, for doing such an excellent job of mowing the Rowland Wood ride network and some of the permanently open spaces. The reserves look spectacular in their autumn colours and I'm confident that habitat conditions over the entire area are now rapidly moving towards the ideal state. When I look back at photos taken immediately after the major restructuring work, performed just a few years ago (2017), the transformation is nothing short of remarkable. Some comparative images to follow. However, there is much fine-tuning still to do over the winter, which is where our wonderful volunteers come in. PLEASE NOTE: the November work party (this Sunday 8 Nov) has been cancelled, but I will be adding a replacement date when the situation allows. (Neil Hulme, Rowland Wood)

Some more images of how Rowland Wood looks today. (Neil Hulme, Rowland Wood)

And here's how it looked in 2017! (Neil Hulme, Rowland Wood)

The phrase “nature abhors a vacuum” is attributed to Aristotle and my simplistic understanding of this concept is that there can be no voids, as matter will fill the space as soon as it begins to develop. And so, it is with gardening, for if you create a bare patch then in no time at all it will be filled. Maybe not straightaway but within a single growing season the bare patch will magically disappear. With an extensive seed bank in the garden there are many native plants happy to oblige, but one of the main contenders is Germander Speedwell. It is a low, sprawling perennial which will happily do its duty and fill any space that becomes available. It has quite a long flowering season, from April until July, each flower head a brilliant azure blue with a central white eye. As it has a little flower head it is only the smaller butterflies that seek its nectar. (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden) - TQ082140

Male Common Blue and Small Copper are nectaring on Germander Speedwell. Holly Blue and Orange-tip, on Giant Speedwell. I call it Giant Speedwell but this may not be its correct name. It readily colonises our gardens and I would suggest that if you come across it then dig it up, as it readily takes over and has little to commend it (although the two butterflies seen in the photos may not agree!). (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden) - TQ082140

In Lancing extra mural cemetery I was excited to see a good condition female Holly Blue on ivy, also 2 Silver Y in Lancing and. Sompting cemetery (Lindsay Morris, North Lancing)

Today Val & I walked in to Brighton & back along the sea front in fine sunshine. However, the only butterfly we saw was in Wish Park, ironically behind our garden, on our return journey. You can just about see it in the centre of the picture, nectaring on ivy. Yesterday (4/11/20) we walked from West Worthing to Ferring along the seafront & back via the Ilex Avenue. On the Ferring's Sea Lane, sea end, Val spotted something in flight. It landed briefly & turned out to be a Silver-Y moth. On ivy at the east end of Marlborough Road West Worthing we saw a Red Admiral. The picture of this one is a bit more distinct! [In previous years we've noticed that the late flying Small Coppers are keen on fleebane at the north end of the west side of Ditchling Common, not that there's much other choice by then.] (John Heys, Aldrington, Hove) - TQ270050

I wasn’t expecting to see anymore butterflies this year so I was delighted to spot Vanessa atalanta sunning itself on a fence post this morning at the edge of Combe Valley, East Sussex. (Maria Dixon, Combe Valley Country Park)

On October 28th I apologised for sending in too many posts, attributing my excessive activity to Covid Anxiety. I wrote that I wouldn't be sending in any more posts for a while but I reckoned without a further four weeks of restrictions and so I am going to renege on that. I might as well share what is in my head and in my computer files. On the 28th I listed my ten top choices for wildlife/butterfly gardening. The tenth on the list was Common Fleabane but I have yet to send in any photographic evidence for its inclusion. This native species is very widespread in the county and in the Flora of Sussex (published in 2018) it is described as almost ubiquitous and in the 2000-2015 county-wide survey was found in 92% of tetrads. I'm not sure it is very common in my part of West Sussex but where it is common it can more-or-less take over. A field, two-removed from my house, was neglected some 20 years ago and so it re-wilded with no interference from anyone. The main colonising plant was Common Fleabane and I noticed that it attracted many Clouded Yellows (in a year when this species was very abundant). I haven't planted Common Fleabane in the garden, it just appeared. One of the simple techniques I adopt is to extend one of the herbaceous beds by 2-3 feet and leave the exposed soil to be colonised naturally. This plant species is described as a perennial but in my garden it usually behaves as an annual and so I need bare patches of soil if I want it to return every year. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't but it always come back at some point. In my garden it is Small Copper that mostly nectars on Common Fleabane. (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden) - TQ082140

While birding around various locations at Thorney Island, we recorded the following butterflies Clouded Yellow 4, Red Admiral 3, Peacock 1, Speckled Wood 2. (Barry and Margaret Collins, Thorney Island) - SU760030

one Red Admiral in afternoon sun on buddleia Sungold. (Jon Ruff, Crawley Down ) - TQ33

So the last day of freedom before lockdown 2.0 and with the Fat Lady warming her vocal chords up, I went to one last adventure down to the south coast, primarily to see what was happening on Mill Hill, but as I usually do I stopped off at Southwick for a wander along the harbour front. A Clouded Yellow quickly appeared, one of a probable two and I also found two Red Admirals, one in perfect nick stayed far out of reach feeding on Ivy but a second with a large chunk missing did settle on the ground later. There was a third species present (along with an appearance from Dave Cook) but not a species I was expecting, and in numbers too! There seemed to be a mass emergence of Holly Blues going on. At one point Dave and I were able to confirm a minimum of seven but they were staying tantalizingly out of reach of macro lenses, and there was almost certainly many more out of sight. (Paul Atkin, Southwick Harbour, Mill Hill)

A four hour walk around Belle Tout, Birling Gap, Went Hill, Michel Dene and then Shooters' Bottom this morning (Wednesday 4th) produced six Red Admirals, one Peacock, one Comma and one Brimstone - all making the most of the bright and fairly calm conditions. There was also a Common Darter and, frustratingly, a larger dragonfly appearing to show some blue, that flew past rather too quickly. (Simon Linington, Beachy Head)

While I was mowing my lawn this morning a Painted Lady appeared and spent its time either resting on my south facing patio and feeding on Verbena Bonariensis flowers. I have never seen one this late in the year. (Stuart Ridley, Seaford) - TQ487004

A single Common Blue, Brimstone and Red Admiral. Two Clouded Yellow and seven Peacock is what sunshine and warmth can do on and around Cissbury Ring today. (Patrick Moore, Cissbury Ring)

With a forecast of Wall to Wall sunshine and next to no breeze, I dropped in on the towpath in front of the Shoreham power station. I wasn’t surprised to bump into Paul A who had had the same thoughts. We were rewarded with a count of 2 Clouded Yellow, a Red Admiral and remarkably a conservative count of 7 Holly Blue including a pairing. We had 4 in the air at one point. (David Cook, Southwick Basin)

I spent a couple of hours on Cissbury Ring from 1pm today and was rather surprised to find a Clouded Yellow sunning itself out of the wind. Unfortunately a short sharp shower halted the proceedings and once the sun returned the temperature had fallen and it was actually hand numbingly chilly. (Patrick Moore, Cissbury Ring)

Whilst watching Marsh Harriers and Peregrines at Amberley Wildbrooks today, a Red Admiral flew by. Yesterday Alan Kitson (Sussex birder) reported a Brimstone at Rackham Woods (on the SOS website). It fluttered around a Holly bush before settling, and becoming superbly camouflaged. (Martin Kalaher, Amberley Wildbrooks)

A beautiful Red Admiral was nectaring on some ivy amongst the houseboats at Shoreham Beach - sunny and 11°C (Lindsay Morris, Shoreham Beach)

The weather improved so much I mowed our back lawn this afternoon & disturbed a silver Y moth from some of the longer grass. (John Heys, Aldrington, Hove) - TQ270050

It got briefly a little sunny so Val & I walked by Shoreham Port, down at harbour level as far as possible. The sun had gone by the time we reached the best bit opposite the power station, although we did see a very large bumble bee. However, on the subject of kingfishers, as we reached the Schooner Inn we disturbed a small bird from the the moored sailing boats which flew off low over the water with a bit of a screech & hid in the harbour Wall on the opposite bank. In the gloom it looked very dark but its almost tail-less appearance, low flight & call all said kingfisher to me. I found a 2015 Shoreham Harbour ecological survey which says kingfishers do hang out at the port in winter, so if anyone does pop down there again (if we get any more nice days!) to have a quick butterfly check, keep a kingfisher eye open too. (John Heys, Shoreham Harbour)