Butterfly Conservation is a registered charity dedicated to the conservation of butterflies and moths. You can find out more about the national organisation here.
The SxBC photo competition is back!
We're inviting photographers to submit their best Sussex butterfly photographs to our annual competition. Whether it's a rare species in flight or a perfect close-up of delicate wing patterns, we want to see it.
The results will be announced at the Members Day held on Sunday the 22nd November. For more information click here.
To see the 2025 winning entries click here.
Our branch is organising many butterfly walks in the summer across the county.
Our next events are:
01 Aug: Martin Kalaher will lead a walk in Stoke Bottom and Medley Bottom, near Amberley
07 Aug: An Introduction to Castle Hill NNR its butterfly and plant species with Graham Hubbard.
Information on all our walks and other events can be viewed here.
Anyone can post photos of butterflies they have seen in Sussex. Recent sightings include:
25 Jul: A walk from the Summers Lane Pagham across to Sidlesham Quay produced a good variety today, including 12 Painted Lady, 8 Red Admiral, 6 Common Blue, 2 Clouded Yellow, 1 Speckled Wood, 1 Comma. Good numbers of Meadow Brown, Small White and Gatekeeper were also about. The highlight for me was a very accommodating Brown Hairstreak. One other thing of note was a Vestal moth.
25 Jul: My second visit to Whitehawk Hill in the past few days, so many species to be seen, including, Wall Brown, Brown Hairstreak, Clouded Yellow and many Common Blues. Also loads of lovely Broadleaf Pea. If by chance you do visit, there’s already a small walkway to the specific LTB area and there really is no need to trample the pea there. Just please look where you put your feet. Anyway I managed to see atleast 3 male LTB today, very happy indeed.
25 Jul: Quite a stiff breeze today, but it didn't put off the Humming Bird Hawk Moth (3 pictures from different angles), and a nice fresh looking Red Admiral.
25 Jul: At least twelve Clouded Yellows on the grassy meadow either side of the public footpath from the car park (Triangle, SU879114) to the top of the Trundle. Also seen were Meadow Brown (almost countless), Small Heath (2), Green-veined White (1), Common Blue (4), Large White (1) and Marbled White (2).
24 Jul: For the 3rd successive day, a Humming-bird Hawk-moth egglaying on Red Valerian in my Crawley garden. There are eggs all over the plants, including one mistakenly laid on a nearby pink geranium. Some of the older eggs have now started hatching.
24 Jul: Long walk from Seaford to Berwick and back via Alfriston - plenty of the usual species but thought worth mentioning a Brown Hairstreak on the way out just north of Seaford up through the golf course. We saw one last year a bit further round to the east so maybe they are moving in! Also saw a nest of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars. Simon, Fran & Amy.
24 Jul: Horseshoe bottom is amazing for butterflies. Clouds of Chalk Hill Blues in their thousands plus Common Blue, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, dark green fritilary, Small White, Large White, Painted Lady, Brown Argus and my first ever second brood Dingy Skipper. But the butterfly I sought was in reasonable numbers, about 20 Silver-spotted Skippers, very hard to follow visually let alone photograph.
24 Jul: I got nice pictures of a Speckled Wood and Holly Blue on the way up to Steyning Rifle Range at about noon today. Down at the Rifle Range itself, I saw loads of Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Common Blues and a Brown Argus but no Brown Hairstreaks.
Click here for more sightings.
Photo by Graham Hubbard
New colonies of Wood White were recently discovered in West Sussex and our branch is planning to learn more about this rare butterfly.
We are organising a coordinated survey and are looking for volunteers. For more information on the Wood White Project in Sussex click here.
Photo by Graham Hubbard
Throughout the year we receive interesting sightings records. We have started an exercise to identify notable sightings and look for patterns during a month with a little help from an AI assistant.
To read more click here.
30 Jun: Martin Kalaher's Open Garden Sunday 12th July.
24 Jun: Scotney Castle - More opportunity to explore
27 Mar: Butterfly Recording Training at National Trust Woolbeding
22 Mar: 2026 walks now appear on the Events Page
28 Feb: Liz Williams Butterfly Haven work day
16 Jan: A summary of Sussex BC work parties in 2026
23 Oct: SxBC Members' Day - Saturday 22nd November 2025 1.30pm – 4.30pm. Latest Update
White Admiral, photo by Maurilio Tesa
Martin Kalaher has written a very interesting article titled 'Partial broods in 2025' to read the article click here.
Last month Martin published 'Second brood Dingy Skippers'. To read that article click here.
Photo from our 2025 competition.
Sussex is one of the best counties in the UK to see a wide range of interesting butterfly species.
More information on species can be viewed here.
There are many important sites for butterflies in our county.
Information on some of them can be viewed here.
The 2025 edition of our magazine has just landed! Members should receive a paper copy in mid November. A digital version can be viewed here.
Orange-tip by Gary Faulkner
The results of the 2025 SxBC photo competition were announced at the recent Members' Day.
To see the winning entries click here.
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