Sussex Branch

Trip to Tide Mills and Hope Gap yesterday in the sunshine, we found a very fresh Clouded Yellow just back from the beach and two Wall Browns. Difficult to photograph in the strong Easterly wind. Then at Hope Hap we found at least another 7 Wall Browns and a Small Copper egg laying. (Richard Stephens, Tide Mills Newhaven)

Absolutely stunned how many butterflies there were out in quite windy conditions. On the path from the Inn to The Coastguard Cottages there were over a dozen Small Copper plus Peacock, Comma, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Wall Brown. At Hope Gap there was a mustard coloured Clouded Yellow and another by the 15th hole on Seaford Head. Red Admirals appeared at this point. Throughout there were masses of Large White and Small White. Factor in a stoat chasing a rabbit, a field of egrets and a slow worm it was a memorable few hours (Martin Buck, Cuckmere Inn to Seaford)

I am still cutting back the meadows (should be finished by Christmas) but kept a watchful eye for any flying insects. I saw all three white butterflies and a single Small Copper, which I did chase for a photo. Also, on both the 15th and 17th I had a "glowing", Glow Worm. I have never seen one in September before. I remember sending in a record of a Great Crested Newt (some 20 years ago) and was not believed (as I didn't photograph it) and as Glow Worm and September do not generally go together, I brought her into the house (I did feel guilty about disturbing her) took a couple of pics and then carefully put her back where she belonged. (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden) - TQ082140

Parked in Bramber near the castle before following downslink path south till I reached the footbridge over the river thence back along the riverbank to Bramber and a walk through the village and a loop up to the church. Good sunshine but a cool northerly breeze meant I saw few butterflies in the first section, 2 Large White, a Red Admiral but the star was a lovely Wall Brown just before I left the riverbank. Several whites back in the village but the best place was on a footpath just past the church where I saw 4 Speckled Wood, 3 Red Admiral several more whites and what I think was a Brown Hairstreak high in a tree. No picture unfortunately as it refused to settle before going out of sight. PS I like the new site, thanks and congrats to all involved. (David Broxham, Bramber)

Very pleased to see a Common Blue, Small Heath and a Painted Lady on our dog walk at Bexhill Beach this morning. (Maria Dixon, Bexhill seafront)

Today's tally: 6 Meadow Browns, 1 Small Heath, 1 Red Admiral and 1 Painted Lady. That's it folks! (Steve Wealthy, Washington Chalk Pits)

Nice weather, bit blowy but sunny and reasonable warm. However, not a lot of butterfly activity: 2 Speckled Woods, 1 Meadow Brown, 2 Small Heaths and 1 Small White. (Steve Wealthy, Chanctonbury Ring)

Painted Lady first sincec2022 (P Mepham, ASHDOWN FOREST WITHYHA )

Two Clouded Yellows nectaring on fleabane on the southern end of Thorney Island. (Barry and Margaret Collins, Thorney Island) - SU7601

I walked up and around Cissbury Ring from North-east Worthing and back. It was 19°C and sunny with a light breeze. A wonderful surprise greeted me 50 yards east of the Trig Point at Cissbury Ring. A female Long-tailed Blue. She was faded and had lost her tails, but her big "eyes" beguiled me still! She was not keen as I got my phone out to snap her, and flew towards the Trig Point, lost to view. I stayed around for nearly an hour, but no further sightings unfortunately. Sixteen butterfly species were seen. 76 Meadow Brown, 21 Small Heath, 15 Speckled Wood, 12 Red Admiral, 8 Small Copper, 8 Common Blue, 3 Brown Argus, 2 Wall, 2 Painted Lady, Chalk Hill Blue, Comma, Brimstone, Green-veined White. Large White and Small White seen in small numbers. (Lindsay Morris, Cissbury Ring area)

Such a lovely afternoon spent walking in the Horsham and Nuthurst area. Eleven butterfly species seen; Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small White, Large White, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Comma and Small Copper. Thank goodness for Buddleia ! (Patrick Moore , Horsham Nuthurst area) - TQ1926

WELL FOLKS, AS YOU CAN SEE WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE. CONGRATULATIONS TO PAUL SHEPHERD FOR DOING A BRILLIANT JOB WITH ALL THE COMPLICATED "IT" BITS AND PIECES. I CALL IT BITS AND PIECES BECAUSE I DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANY OF IT. I HAVE RE-WRITTEN ALL THE TEXT AND CHOSEN THE PHOTOS. DAVE BROWN (CHAIR) AND JAMES MILTON (VICE CHAIR) HAVE PROOF-READ THE WHOLE LOT FOR TYPOS, AND SO FORTH. BOB FOREMAN HAS BEEN KEEPING A WATCHFUL EYE ON THE PROCEEDINGS. IT HAS BEEN A VERY GOOD TEAM EFFORT. SHOULD YOU FIND ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR WISH TO MAKE ANY CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS THEN PLEASE WRITE TO ME at martinkalaher@hotmail.com ENJOY! (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden)

sun 15/09/2024 WHITEBREAD HOLE, EASTBOURNE, E,Sx. On the way up to Whitebread Hole along King Edward Parade came across a buddlia with 11x Large White, 7x Painted Ladies, 1x Peacock and 2x Red Admiral, I'm not sure what variety of buddleia it is but it sure was popular, then abit farther along road near the clothes recycling bins counted 6x Wall Lizards including two very tiny ones. And so to Whitebread, butterflies seen between 11.58am to 2.00pm := 80x Large White, 5x Red Admiral, 24x Small White, 2x Green-veined White, 2x Small Heath, 6x Common Blue (m), 3x Brown Argus, 4x Small Copper and 3x Meadow Brown. it wasn't always sunny, but was breezy at times. (PETER FARRANT, WHITEBREAD HOLE, EASTBOURNE, E,Sx.) - TV597964

Today we made a special effort to look for Small Coppers at various locations on Thorney Island and located at least 18. we also had a very fresh looking Clouded Yellow. Other species seen and not counted included Speckled Wood, Common Blue, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Small Heath, Large White and Small White. (Barry and Margaret Collins, Thorney Island) - SU760030

8 Red Admiral, 4 Large White, 2 Small White, 1 Brimstone, 1 Comma and (briefly) 1female Brown Hairstreak in the garden today. Numbers now are better than they have been throughout June, July and August. It was the same story last year. (Jon Ruff, Crawley Down)

It was lovely on the Amberley Downs today, made even better by 18 butterfly species. I'll list them just for interest: Red Admiral, Comma, Painted Lady, Peacock, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Brimstone, Common Blue, Chalk Hill Blue, Adonis Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Brown Hairstreak and Clouded Yellow, phew! (Patrick Moore , Amberley Downs ) - TQ0411

I have seen eight butterfly species in the garden over the past three days and as for other recent posts there have been plenty of white butterflies, especially Small Whites. Species and maximum daily counts as follows: Small White (6), Large White (2), Small Copper (1), Holly Blue (1), Red Admiral (2-3), Comma (1), Speckled Wood (2), Meadow Brown (2). (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden) - TQ082140

A bright sunny day on Castle Hill with little breeze and good numbers of Meadow Brown (36), Common Blue (27), and Small White (17), also Small Heath and Brown Argus. Still 3 or 4 Chalk Hill Blue and Adonis Blue both looking somewhat 'end of season' now. Large White (3), with Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma and Brimstone all as singletons, as also my first sighting of a Clouded Yellow in the Uk this year! Additionally 3 Common Buzzard, 3 Kestrel and one (un) Common Partridge. (Graham Hubbard, Castle Hill NNR)

A Sunny afternoon yesterday at RSPB Pulborough Brooks turned up 2 Brown Hairstreak, 4 Speckled Wood, 5 Red Admiral, 4 Small Heath, 3 Small White, 2 Large White and a Small Copper. Also 1 Hobby, 3 Red Kite, 5 Common Buzzard, 1 Bullfinch, good numbers of Swallows and House Martins, Hundreds of Canada Geese, and a hand full of Greylag Geese. A young Adder sunbathing on the gravel path was a beautiful bonus! (Graham Hubbard, RSPB Pulborough Brooks)

A helice Clouded Yellow flew south over the Great Deep this morning while we were watching the Ospreys fishing etc. (Barry and Margaret Collins, Thorney Island) - SU7504

It was 15°C, calm and sunny for a wander round the Lancing Ring area. I was amazed to turn up sixteen butterfly species with Large White and Small White always in view but not counted. 46 Red Admiral, 13 Speckled Wood, 5 Peacock, 4 Holly Blue, 4 Common Blue, 4 Meadow Brown, 3 Small Copper, 2 fresh male Wall (third brood, I would imagine), 2 Green-veined White, Brown Hairstreak, Comma, Brown Argus, Painted Lady, Small Heath, Humming-bird Hawk-moth. A Small Copper was the twenty sixth species I have seen in my North Lancing garden this year. (Lindsay Morris, Lancing Ring area)

With temperatures falling to 3.6 degrees overnight - the coldest at this time in September for over 25 years - the omens were not good for today`s migrant and late flier butterfly walk. Unsurprisingly just three of us turned up to brave the elements. At 10.00 a.m. the temperature was still hovering at 10 degrees and with butterflies understandably absent we decided to spend a bit of time looking at Orthoptera which were just about the only insects that were active. Lesser Marsh, Field and Meadow Grasshoppers were numerous as were the scarcer Roesel`s Bushcricket and Long-winged Conehead. As temperatures began to climb we headed for Tidemills Nature Reserve to the east of Newhaven Port and were rewarded with good numbers of the three white species, viz. Small, Large and Green - veined and soon hit a `hot spot` which yielded good numbers of Small Heath. A glance at the Everlasting Pea and it became evident that not only was the Long-tailed Blue not about (although a Vapourer Moth got us thinking!) but that someone had been trampling all around and over the stems looking for evidence in the last day or two and making right mess of the foodplant in the process. Moving on to the bridge we spied Curlew, Redshank and Black-headed Gulls probing the mud in Mill Creek and House Martins, SWallows, Chiffchaffs and a Wheatear were on the move south along with plenty of Red Admiral. By this stage it was a balmy 15 degrees. Turning a corner the thermometer shot up to 20 Celsius in the shelter of a bank and this was the cue for scores of butterflies to emerge. Whites were particularly prolific but Painted Lady, Common Blue, Small Copper, Meadow Brown and a lone distant Wall Brown added to the kaleidoscope. Migrant Hawker and Common Darter were taking advantage of the situation. Completing the circuit we ventured through the southern edge of the Ouse Estuary Reserve hearing a Cetti`s Warbler en-route. Holly Blue and Speckled Wood were then added to the tally along with both Clouded Yellow and Comma in the Phacelia set - aside fields adjoining the A259 trunk road. 14 species on a particularly cold day and with driving northerly winds throughout was not a bad haul in the end. At lunch we estimated there must have been at least 200 whites in just one of the set - aside fields and a multiplier suggests this autumn`s migration of these Pierids must have been quite spectacular indeed. Roy, Roger and Dave (Dave Harris, Tidemills)

Morning walk in Combe Valley, Greenway to Acton's then back via. bridle path adjacent to Buckholt Lane. As well as many Whites & Red Admirals I counted 3 Speckled Woods, 2 Small Heaths, 1 Comma, 1 Meadow Brown, 1 Small Copper. (Colin Fairway, Combe Valley Countryside Park) - TQ748100

Yesterday was the last of four Conservation Work Parties on Park Corner Heath in early September. Butterflies seen over the four days were Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Small Heath, Small Copper, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Small White, Large White and Green-veined White. Me also saw a multitude of Adders and Grass snakes. The sky was continuously patrolled by dragon flies, mostly Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters. After completing yesterdays work we off finished with a tour of the two reserves and search for violets. Half way round heard the unmistakable sound of a deer's alarm call (a cross between a cough and a bark if you haven't heard it) followed by the site of two large dogs chasing a small herd of fallow deer down a ride. Thanks to Neil Hulme, Paul Day, Richard Farran, Graham Hubbard and Nigel Symington for their hard work. (Jonathan Crawford, Park Corner Heath)

On a hike through Castle Hill nature reserve, I saw 2 of these butterflies, both on scabious flowers. The photo isn't great, sorry. I'm not sure which type of blue it is..small, common, large?? (Stephanie McKoy, Standean Bottom)

It was quite windy on the southern end of Thorney Island this afternoon. But we managed to find a sheltered area and were rewarded with 6 very fresh looking Small Coppers (third brood) also 1 Painted Lady and a tatty female blue, 1 Meadow Brown etc. (Barry and Margaret Collins, Thorney Island) - SU7601

I had a pleasant and very successful afternoon at Herstmonceux Castle today in the company of Trevor Rapley and Katrina Watson. There were some lovely fresh Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock and Small Copper, plus numerous assorted Whites. (John Williams, Herstmonceux Castle)

A Humming-bird Hawk-moth briefly at the honeysuckle in my garden this afternoon. (Robert Watson , Fishbourne ) - SU838055

Walked a nice loop from Kithurst Hill car park via Blackpatch Hill, Myrtle Grove and Wepham Down with friends today in breezy, sunny spells. We managed to spot; Small White, Green-veined White, Meadow Brown, Comma, Painted Lady, plenty of Red Admiral, Common Blue and a Brown Hairstreak at Wepham Down. Also Common Lizard and HB Hawk Moth. (Patrick Moore , Kithurst Hill Downs) - TQ0712

Painted Lady in Glebe Road, Cuckfield this afternoon. Hopefully they are starting to spread out from the coast. (Martin Buck, Cuckfield )

No sign of Chalk Hill Blues now - 11 Meadow Browns, and 1 Common Blue is all there is today at Washington Chalk Pits. (Steve Wealthy, Washington Chalk Pits)

Surprisingly nice weather today up on Chanctonbury Ring. Brought out 11 Meadow Browns, 3 Red Admirals, 2 Small Whites, 2 Common Blues, 1 Small Heath, 1 Brown Argus, 1 Comma, 1 Speckled Wood and 1 Painted Lady. (Steve Wealthy, Chanctonbury Ring)

During the sunny spells in the garden today there were 3 Small White and 3 Large White, one of which bordered on ab. striata. Then at 1.20 a female Brown Hairstreak made a fleeting visit, but was too quick for the camera. (Vince Massimo, Crawley) - TQ268352

4 Red Admirals out and about like me and it's not even 9am yet. (John Heys , West Worthing )

URGENT: FOR THE ATTENTION OF ANYONE WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN DAVE HARRIS ON A STROLL AROUND TIDEMILLS OR NEWHAVEN CLIFFS THIS COMING FRIDAY AT 10.00. THE MEETING POINT IS TIDEMILLS AND OUSE ESTUARY CAR PARK JUST OFF MILL DROVE AT TIDEMILLS AND OUSE ESTUARY CAR PARK JUST OFF MILL DROVE ADJACENT TO THE A259 AT TQ46330050. Terrain is reasonably flat and dry but good walking boots recommended. (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden)

Really cloudy at Sussex County Cricket ground today, cool too. Even so a Red Admiral made a couple of darting flights above us on the Spen Cama stand. Intriguingly, a smaller, quite dark butterfly made a more even flight from south to north. Too cold for Brown Hairstreak, not convinced it was a Speckled Wood - a bit small and far from trees. Puzzling. (John Heys , Hove)

I spent another hour cutting back some of the wildflower meadow. A Small Copper flew by and I gave chase. It was rather breezy for photography. (Martin Kalaher, Storrington wildlife garden) - TQ082140