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Events for 2024

We are putting together a season of Events to appeal to both novice and experienced Butterfly and Moth lovers. We will be adding more Events throughout the season so would recommend frequent viewing of the Events page to keep up to date.

All details can be seen via the Events page Click here.

We hope you can attend and enjoy these trips we are organising for you.

Cotoneaster Work Party - A259 Buckle By-pass, Seaford, on 4th and 8th September 10:00 to 13:00

The annual Cotoneaster clearance at this site will take place on the mornings of Wednesday 4th and Sunday the 8th September.

As you may know, this is a large and difficult area which is an established breeding ground for the Small Blue butterfly as well as a number of other nationally scarce insects. Their continued presence is threatened by the invasion of Cotoneaster, and there is now an established routine of cutting back just a small part of it each year.

We will start on each day at around 10.00 from the bus stop on the main road at the bottom of Hill Rise (TQ47030015 or what3words), and finish by 1.00. High visibility tabards, gloves, a selection of tools, cake and drinks will be provided, but bringing along your own secateurs and loppers if you have them would be useful.

Members are welcome to come for either or both days, and stay for as long or short a period as they like.

Ashdown Forest Heath Week

We now have a link for you to obtain all the information about this event which runs from the 29th of July to the 4th of August. SxBC are not involved with the organisation but we will have a stand on Monday the 29th of July. More info on the events page.

Silver Studded Blues Monitoring Event, 10:30 on Saturday 6th July

This event was cancelled and may be rescheduled at a later date.

The Damselflies & Dragonflies of Sussex

The Sussex Butterfly Conservation website helps to encourage an interest in all of the insects around us. One particularly exciting and colourful group of insects are the damselflies and dragonflies for which Sussex has a good selection. The status and distribution of this group of insects has changed markedly over the past two decades and so the butterfly enthusiasts of Sussex may be interested in a new book:

"The Damselflies & Dragonflies of Sussex: their status and distribution" by Alan Martin, Simon Linington and Bob Foreman - available for sale (£20 plus p&p) at Pemberley Books (www.pemberleybooks.com/product/the-damselflies-and-dragonflies-of-sussex-their-status-and-distribution/59647/).

It includes over 170 photos of all the Sussex species, shows their current distributions and describes some of the best places to look for them.

Transect Recorders Required

We are keen to attract transect recorders for two sites in West Sussex; Kingley Vale at SU820105 and Pagham Harbour at SZ856965. The Pagham Harbour site is managed by RSPB and is close to the visitor centre at Sidlesham. It is around 2.5 hectares in size and is known to have colonies of uncommon species such as Brown Hairstreak and White-letter Hairstreak. If you are interested, please contact Julia Lowson, transect co-ordinator, for further details, at transects@sussex-butterflies.org.uk

Sussex Butterfly Report 2023

Hot off the press is the Sussex Butterfly Report 2023 written by Martin Kalaher. This is the final report and includes December, it can be found here.