Butterflies in Sussex - Species List and Galleries

If you would like to contribute digital photos, please send them to photo with the usual suffix, @sussex-butterflies.org.uk as jpegs, ideally 72 dpi and cropped to 180x240 pixels, but if you do not have the necessary software, then send them through at higher size, although please keep attachments smaller than a megabyte. In particular, we are interested to receive any photos that 'fill in the gaps' in our Galleries, showing aspects of the species or their life cycles not currently shown. For example, we have enough shots of single Red Admiral adults, but don't have any photos of them egg laying, mating, eggs, caterpillars or pupae. We need also to know when and where the photos were taken - we are sorry but we do not publish photos taken outside Sussex.

45 butterfly species are regular breeders in Sussex. The number in brackets after each species denotes the number of tetrads in which each was seen during the 1995-99 survey:

Small Skipper (224): Widespread in suitable rough grassland. Flight season early June- late August. Gallery

Essex Skipper (121): Fairly widespread, but recorded from only about half the number of tetrads as Small Skipper. Flight season late June- late August. Gallery

Silver-spotted Skipper (40): Restricted range on chalk downland in east Sussex but expanding its range westwards. Flight season late July-early September. Gallery

Large Skipper (221): Widespread in suitable rough grassland. Flight season mid May- early August. Gallery

Dingy Skipper (47): Restricted range, predominantly on chalk grassland on the Downs. Flight season early May-mid June and a partial second brood in early August. Gallery

Grizzled Skipper (70): Restricted range, predominantly on chalk grassland on the Downs. Flight season late April-mid June. Gallery

Wood White (4): Very restricted, now just found in a couple of wood in the north west of the county. Flight season early May to late June, and a partial second brood in early August. Gallery

Clouded Yellow (263): Annual visitor in very variable numbers from the Continent, some years seeing large numbers especially on the coast, in other years very few seen. Few seen before July. Then seen until October. Gallery

Brimstone (302): Very widespread, especially in more rural areas. Adults emerge from hibernation in March and seen on wing until June. Autumn adults emerge in late July and few are seen after September. Gallery

Large White (363): Very widespread, including urban habitats. Flight season early April to early July and late July to early October. Gallery

Small White (380): Very widespread, including urban habitats. Flight season early April to late June and mid July to early October. Gallery

Green-veined White (225): Widespread, but not nearly as much as Large and Small Whites. Flight season early April to late June and early July to early October. Gallery

Orange-tip (243): Widespread, especially in more rural areas. Flight season late April to mid June. Gallery

Green Hairstreak (51): Restricted, most but not all on chalk grassland on the Downs near scrub and shrubs. Flight season late April to early June. Gallery

Brown Hairstreak (84): Restricted range, mainly in Weald, but very difficult to see. Flight season late July to mid September. Gallery

Purple Hairstreak (72): Fairly widely reported from oak woods, but probably much under-recorded. Flight season late June to late August. Gallery

White-letter Hairstreak (17): Very restricted, although possibly under-recorded. Flight season late June to early August. Gallery

Small Copper (217): Widespread, including heathland. Flight season late April to early June, a second brood from early July, and an overlapping third brood from mid September sometimes into late October. Gallery

Small Blue (35): Restricted to chalk grassland on the Downs. Flight season mainly mid May to mid June with a partial second brood in mid August. Gallery

Silver-studded Blue (14): Very restricted, mainly on Ashdown Forest. Single brood from late June to early August. Gallery

Brown Argus (87): Restricted range, mainly on chalk grassland on the Downs. Two broods: early May to mid June and mid July to end September. Gallery

Common Blue (305): Very widespread on grassland. Flight season mid May to early July and late July to early October. Gallery

Chalkhill Blue (76): Restricted to chalk grassland on the Downs where it can be very abundant. Single brood from early July to early September. Gallery

Adonis Blue (61): Restricted to chalk grassland on the Downs. First brood mid May to late June; second brood mid August to end September. Gallery

Holly Blue (233): Widespread, including in urban areas. First brood early April to mid May; second brood early July to early September. Gallery

Duke of Burgundy (7): Very restricted on Downs and struggling in the county. Flight season early May to mid June. Gallery

White Admiral (62): Restricted, mainly to ancient woodland sites across the Weald. Flight season late June to early August. Gallery

Purple Emperor (21): Restricted to large woodland in the Weald. Flight season late June to mid August. Gallery

Red Admiral (412): Very widespread, including in urban areas. Can be seen in every month of the year, often the most frequent these days to be seen in the winter months, and often numerous into late October. Gallery

Painted Lady (327): Migrant from the Continent; shows great variation between years, in some being very widespread, in others numbers are very low. Can be seen from April onwards, but often not turning up until midsummer. Gallery

Small Tortoiseshell (355): Very widespread, including in some urban areas. Overwintering adults can emerge early, but usually seen April and May. The next brood is seen late June to early August, and the autumn brood that will go into hibernation are seen from late August. Gallery

Peacock (380): Very widespread. Overwintering adults can be seen from February onwards until June. The autumn brood emerges in late July and usually seen into October. Gallery

Comma (352): Very widespread, including in some urban areas. Complex life cycle: overwintering adults can emerge early in the year, but are usually seen in April and early May. Early caterpillars emerge as the bright, less-scalloped hutchinsoni adults in July, late caterpillars from the overwintering adults and offspring of the hutchinsoni generation emerge in September and can be seen into October. Gallery

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (6): Very restricted, the best colony being at the BC reserve at Park Corner Heath. Flight season late May to mid July. Gallery

Pearl-bordered Fritillary (18): Very restricted in Wealden woods, and very few of the existing populations are doing well. Flight season late April to early June. Gallery

Dark Green Fritillary (48): Restricted to chalk grassland in the Downs. Flight season late June to late August. Gallery

Silver-washed Fritillary (87): Restricted to large woodlands, mainly in the Weald and with more sites in West Sussex. Flight season late June to late August. Gallery

Speckled Wood (406): Very widespread, including some urban areas. Can be seen on the wing from early April through to late October in three broods. Gallery

Wall (123): Fairly widespread, often coastal or on chalk grassland on the Downs, but much reduced from former numbers. Three broods - early may to mid June, mid July to late August, and mid September into early October. Gallery

Marbled White (138): Fairly widespread, especially on chalk grassland on the Downs where it can be abundant. Single brood - mid June to late August. Gallery

Grayling (5): Now restricted to very few sites, the best being Lullington Heath in East Sussex. Single brood mid July to late August. Gallery

Gatekeeper (353): Very widespread, especially in rural areas where it can be abundant. Flight season late June to late August. Gallery

Meadow Brown (427): Very widespread, especially in rural areas where it can be very abundant. Flight season late May to mid September. Gallery

Ringlet (173): Fairly widespread, especially in damper woods. Flight season mid June to late July. Gallery

Small Heath (166): Fairly widespread, especially on chalk grassland on the Downs. Flight season early may to early July and early August to early October. Gallery

Rare vagrants Gallery

• Large Tortoiseshell: Has had a rollercoaster history in Sussex. Was common up to about the 1880s, became much rarer for a couple of decades, then became common again in the first few years of the 20th Century, only to then swiftly demise, possibly becoming extinct by 1907. It returned around 1918, and enjoyed moderate success through to about 1949, before becoming very rare again. There are now a few records each decade, with one seen on 3 July 2005 in a Shoreham garden. True immigrants from the Continent are clouded by captive-bred releases.

• Swallowtail: Occasionally, Swallowtails from the Continent arrive in summer, and are usually seen on the Downs Escapes/imports.

• Queen of Spain Fritillary: A very rare vagrant from continental Europe, one was seen in April 2007

• Exotic butterflies occasionally escape from captive collections, or arrive in consignments of plants or other imports.