Brown Hairstreaks

 

Out walking on the Downs recently, there were still a lot of butterflies on the wing but most were starting to look a bit worn. There will still be fresh looking Red Admirals, Peacocks and Brimstones around for a few months yet and possibly even a Short-tailed Blue but the end of the butterflying season is usually marked by the emergence of the Brown Hairstreaks. When most other species are past their best the flash of bright orange stands out amongst the drab browns - that is, if you manage to find one.

Fortunately we have a couple of good sites close by and this year we headed over to Steyning Rifle Range in search of the target. Target butterfly that is, no shots have been fired here since the 1980s.

I would like to say what a wonderful day we had but Brown Hairstreaks always seem like hard work. We arrived early and spent two to three hours searching for that flash of orange. A complete waste of time. Males tend to stay on territory in the tops of the Ash trees, whilst the females coming down to the Blackthorn to lay eggs don't usually appear until after 11am. If you are really lucky you may find one sunbathing or nectaring on Brambles or Fleabane after egg laying.

We did eventually get to see a couple and it was worth the wait but only just.

It has been an unusual butterflying year. We had a shortage of the blue species early in the year. It did improve a bit late summer but they were still not in the numbers I would expect, yet walking on the downs now there seems to be good numbers of second broods.

Plants also seem to be out of sync with the butterflies. We usually visit Houghton Forest in August to photograph Silver-spotted Skippers and White Admirals on the Hemp Agrimony. Not only is it a great nectaring plant but it is four or five feet tall so you don't have to go crawling about on your hands an knees to get your shots. This year it flowered late, it looks good now but the shots are not really what I was looking for.

Hemp Agrimony looking good but I can't say the same for the Silver-washed Fritillary

Or for the White Admiral

Fortunately the Small Tortoiseshells are still looking good.

Small Tortoiseshell

The Buddleia in my garden at home also seems to be having a bad year. It flowered at about the right time  but it doesn't seem to be attracting the butterflies this year. Perhaps nectar levels are linked to temperature and moisture levels.

A late push has eventually raised my butterfly list for the year to more respectable levels. There are forty seven butterflies that can be seen in Sussex in a good year. I missed out on the Purple Emperor and Purple Hairstreak and the jury is still out on the Long-tailed Blue which could be flying through to the end of October. Still forty four is not a bad count and if the Large Tortoiseshell becomes established in Sussex I could be looking for forty eight next year.

Below are some of the late additions to the list.

Brimstone

Brown Argus

Clouded Yellow - it's a bit tatty but they all count

Common Blue

Silver-spotted Skipper

Small Copper

Speckled Wood

Wall

It doesn't seem possible that the summer is all but over. Did it ever really happen this year or is it just that I was isolating through the best part of it. 

It will still be worth looking for moths for a couple more months and we could get a warm September which will keep the insects active but the focus will now start to turn back to the birds. Which is only appropriate for what claims to be a birding blog. Bring on those winter days stood on the North Wall at Pagham waiting for that once in a lifetime find to turn up.

Grayling and others

Just catching up on a few of the butterfly photographs I have taken over the past few weeks. Best find was probably this Grayling, a butterfly that gets harder to see in Sussex as each year goes by. This one was on Windover Hill and despite an hours searching it was the only one I could find.

Grayling

They are always a bit difficult to spot against the Chalk flints but this one did at least put down amongst some greenery making it a little more visible. Although they always settle with wings closed they will, if threatened, "pop up" the forewing flashing a patch of orange and an eye. I managed to get a half hearted response on my initial approach but it then seemed to tire of that game and just fell asleep and ignored my presence.

Grayling

Lots of lovely Brimstones along with other butterflies at Houghton Forest but perhaps not in the numbers we have seen in previous years. The high winds and stormy weather at the begining of the month may have had an impact.

Brimstone

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Small Heath

Chalkhill Blue

Red Admiral

Lots of Silver-washed Fritillaries at Houghton as well but when you did manage to catch up with them they were in a really tatty state.



Newtimber Hill is one of the most reliable sites for Silver-spotted Skippers. They were there but again not in big numbers but then we were probably four weeks later than usual in looking for them.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Wall Brown

Chalkhill Blues still looking good though.

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Dark Green Fritillary

Last but not least a Large White, we tend to ignore them but they really are quite a beautiful butterfly.

Large White

No sign of a Clouded Yellow yet or perhaps even one of the rarer migrants from the continent but there is still time.

Silver-spotted Skipper

The summer quiet patch has ended and the second half of the Butterfly year seems to going really well. My impression is that there are more butterflies around than last year although it may just be that in the hot weather they are more active than usual.

I should be able to see 46 butterflies in the year and that is without travelling outside of Sussex. As I was falling well short of that number I have spent the last few days trying to fill some of the gaps. Most are now annual pilgrimages, Newtimber Hill for the Silver-spotted Skippers, Windover Hill for the Chalkhill Blue and Grayling, and the more recent addition of Knepp for the Purple Hairstreaks.

Sometimes it seems a bit pointless going round seeing the same butterflies and taking the same pictures but then there are never two years the same. Numbers vary, habitats change, some locations fade away and others open up. Just seeing the changes taking place is part of the enjoyment - most of the time! There is also that exceptional picture that is still out there waiting to be taken.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper, a feisty little butterfly with a good turn of speed. It always reminds me of the Pearl Bordered and Small Pearl Bordered. You think you are following its movement and then a sudden change of direction or speed and its gone.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper

White Admiral

Large Skipper

But I am still missing the Essex Skipper and there doesn't seem to be that many Small Skippers about.

Peacock  - the dark side!

Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak, my bogey butterfly. I see lots of them but I just don't seem to be able to get a good open wing shot.

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue  Female

Chalkhill Blue Male

Common Blue

Grayling

Grayling, a good two hours of searching and I was only able to find one butterfly at my usual location. Recent reports have shown better returns lower down the slope in Deep Dean.

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Still  missing a few, Dark Green Fritillary, White Hairstreak, Essex Skipper, Brown Hairstreak and Clouded Yellow. Also a Small Tortoiseshell which I must have seen but have not recorded. Might even get a Long-tailed Blue or perhaps a Camberwell Beauty. Dream on!

Silver-spotted Skipper

Dave had just got back from his latest butterflying holiday but with nothing interesting to look at on the local birding front, it was butterflies for him again today. We went to see if the Silver-spotted Skippers were out yet on Newtimber Hill.

I can't see that Dave could have been too exited by the idea. He had just logged 120+ butterflies in a week including close on 50 life ticks and probably had thousands of photographs to sort through. A few more shots of the Silver-spotted Skipper would seem like a very low priority.

To make matters worse they were not easy to find. Cloud cover and a cool wind when we arrived meant that there was not much flying beyond the usual Meadow Browns. However, as it warmed up a few began to appear, although we were probably a week early and they were not in the numbers we had seen in previous years.

They tend to stay low down in the grass so can be difficult to photograph but at least they do show the underside of their wings, the bit you want in your photograph, a lot more than the other small skippers.

By the time we left the hill it was very hot and humid. An early warning of the huge lightning storms to come that night. There were a few more butterflies around but still not in the numbers that I would expect.

No Chalkhill Blues about but there were a few Common Blues flying.

Common Blue

We called in at Pulborough Brooks for a quick look at the Dragonflies in the afternoon. There were plenty flying but nothing unusual.

Azure Blue Damselfly

Black Darter

Emerald Damselfly

Roll on the cool winter days and the return of the waders.