Botany Bay

 

Monday and I was out with Dave hoping to pick up Purple Hairstreaks and perhaps a late Purple Emperor to add to my year list. It didn't look very promising. The forecast had been for some good sunny spells but we had rain down on the coast so we headed north looking for a break in the cloud cover.

Our usual hunting spots looked wet and muddy and in the end we decided to head over to Chiddingfold Forest in the hope that it would brighten up by the time we got there. We parked up at the Botany Bay entrance. It had stopped raining but with it still being overcast and the temperature stuck at fifteen degrees there was nothing flying.

We walked in to the triangle and I can't remember seeing a single butterfly on the way. A more detailed search when we got there turned up our first Wood White and once we had our eye in we found dozens of them. For once the wet and cold conditions worked to our advantage. The Wood Whites were still perched up in their roost positions with many of them still covered in dew.

The light was dull but it seems to suit the Wood Whites, better still there was no wind to disturb these delicate looking butterflies, so there were plenty of picture opportunities.

And a shot from a few days earlier. The Wood Whites were flying and nectaring that day but with a stronger wind it was difficult to get sharp pictures.

We waited around until early afternoon in the hope that the weather would break. No luck unfortunately but it did give me the chance to find a few moths.

I spotted four different species that I was interested in, plus a few Grass Veneers. The most common was the Shaded Broad-bar with something like half a dozen seen. They were difficult to photograph in the dense undergrowth but eventually I got a decent shot.

Shaded Broad-bar - Scotopteryx chenopodiata

I also saw a Common Carpet but I couldn't get close to that. There were also a number of micros there but two in particular were new for me.

Common Roller - Ancylis badiana

Ochreous Pearl - Anania crocealis

In the end I had to pot the Ochreous Pearl in order to keep it still long enough to get a picture.

This is only the second time I have been out actively searching the undergrowth for Moths, the first being the visit to the South Stoke Water Meadows. Getting decent pictures is harder but an active hunt is certainly more interesting than just emptying the trap in the morning.

Made in Sussex

Two additions to my Sussex Butterfly list, with both the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and the Wood White seen in Sussex locations in the past week.

A Wood White in Sussex has been a target for two or three years now. The Sussex Branch of Butterfly conservation suggests that in lean years these can be difficult to find and suggests travelling over the border into Surrey and visiting Botany Bay (Tugley Wood) where there are good sized colonies. They have always been very reluctant to release any information on potential sites in Sussex.

But that only makes it more of a challenge.

Dave and I have searched a few Sussex sites without success but research finally led us to a little wood and there they were. Or there they were for me, Dave was on his way to a butterflying holiday in the Pyrenees and missed them. Hopefully they will still be there when he gets back.

I only managed to see three but that's OK, I only need one for my Sussex tick. That takes me up to 46 butterfly species seen and photographed in Sussex. Still some way to go. According to Butterfly Conservation Sussex Branch:-


There were 52 species of butterfly recorded in Sussex during the 2010-14 survey conducted for the "Butterflies of Sussex" atlas. Of these 43 are native to Sussex, living out their entire life cycle within the county. Two migrant species, the Clouded Yellow and the Painted Lady are such regular visitors that we can consider them to be Sussex species. The remaining seven are rare or occasional visitors whose unpredicable appearance is often dependent upon the weather. These are Scarce Tortoiseshell, Camberwell Beauty, Long-tailed Blue, Geranium Bronze, Glanville Fritillary, Monarch and Swallowtail.


Long-tailed Blue, I have seen but that still leaves six very rare butterflies that I am looking for. I probably also need to add the Large Tortoiseshell to that list. Can't say that I am too worried though. The way things are going of late, wedding releases, colonies bred in garden sheds and the odd matchbox bought back from the continent, should give me plenty of opportunities.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Following a very wet spring in 2012 and cold start to 2013, by 2014 the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary had disappeared from Sussex as a breeding species. Efforts to improve the habitat and reintroduce them resulted in a limited success last year and good signs of a sustainable population this year with reports of sightings from Abbotts Wood, Rowlands Wood, and Park Heath Corner.

Towards the end of last week we went to Park Heath Corner so I could add this butterfly to my Sussex list. Well we saw it but getting a picture was hard work. Just like the larger Pearl-Bordered Fritillary they are very active, fast flying and have the ability to just disappear from sight whilst only a few feet away from you. This is perhaps a butterfly to pursue late in the day, when it has worn itself out chasing the ladies and may be found nectaring on the wild flowers.

Only one photograph and I couldn't get close but this was all I had to show for a couple of hours effort. Not even an underwing shot to show the pearls.

Silver-studded Blue

We started the day off with a visit to Botany Bay Wood, just over the border into Surrey, to see if we could get Dave a Wood White. It was all a bit quiet when we got there but I think we were just a bit too early in the day. Eventually we found a couple and Dave got his pictures and a year tick.

Wood White

Wood White

It's difficult to see why there are so few colonies of Wood Whites around. They seem to have a wide range of nectaring and food plants and are not particularly temperature or geology sensitive. I know that we have lost a lot of coppiced woodland rides which will affect their numbers but there are many woods similar to Botany Bay across the south of England.

Our next stop was Iping Common where Silver-studded Blues had been reported. Its a small butterfly on a large common but we eventually found a small group. There were probably two or three females and and about eight males. I have had trouble photographing Silver-studded Blues in the past. Closed wing shots are not a problem but they often sit with their wings open at forty five degrees and it is very difficult to get the depth of field you need to get the whole butterfly sharp - that's my excuse anyway.

Note the silver studding in the black marginal spots

Female - colours vary from dark brown through to predominantly blue
This female is only a couple of days old and has not faded to this state.

Male

Wood White and Silver-studded Blue in the bag and we still had most of the afternoon left. A large moth distracted us for a few minutes on the way back to the car park. I had to look it up in the book when I got home, it was a Clouded Buff.

Clouded Buff  - day flying moth

We decided on a visit to Lords Piece on the way home to have a look for Dragonflies. It turned out to be a good choice. There were plenty of Blue Damselflies around the pond but they were not easy to photograph.

I think this one is an Azure Blue

We saw Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers but best of all were views of a Golden-ringed Dragonfly and a Downy Emerald. Both landed and gave us long enough to get a few pictures.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Downy Emerald

Golden-ringed (Female)

The only problem with a good day out is that you have hundreds of pictures to process when you get home. They are never as good as you want or expect but you just hope for a couple of good ones in there somewhere.

Wood White

There may not have been many opportunities for bird photography over the past couple of days but the butterflies have more than compensated.

As I was up at Iping Common looking for Tree Pipits and Woodlarks I decided to head over the border into Surrey to visit Botany Bay Wood in the hope of seeing Wood Whites. I did not attempt to count them but just along the main ride there must have been thirty to forty of them flying. I was also pleased to find that they are an easy butterfly to photograph. They do not seem to be concerned by a close approach or by the odd bit of gardening to give a better shot.

Wood White

Much darker markings on this one

There were also dozens of a little orange moth flying which I later identified as a Speckled Yellow Moth.

Speckled Yellow Moth

The rides also had lots of Brimstones and for a change they seemed to be settling to feed regularly giving plenty of picture opportunities.

Brimstone

On the way home I called in at Kithurst meadow. I already had lots of shots of the Duke of Burgundys but I wanted a Small Blue and I knew they had been seen there. I struggled to find one at first but then someone suggested that I look outside the meadow on the bank by the side of the road and sure enough there were two specimens out there.

Small Blue

Small Blue

I also found a Dingy Skipper. Not unusual  except that that this is the first shot I have taken of one with closed wings.

Dingy Skipper

And a Damselfly which I am reasonably confident in identifying as a Variable Damselfly which would be a first for me. I got it wrong, its an Azure Damselfly, wishful thinking on my part.

Variable Azure Damselfly

A couple of other Butterflies spotted the next day. The first is a Speckled Wood at Park Copse Pagham Harbour. Nothing unusual in the butterfly but the lighting is good.

Speckled Wood

And an Orange Tip taken just north of the Black Rabbit.

Orange Tip

The Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary is the next butterfly on the list.