On Friday 24th July, 6 group members went up to Warnham Nature Reserve near Horsham for a combined butterfly count and memorial for Tricia Hall, joined by both of her daughters, Jackie and Amanda, and their daughters. Despite a fine and sunny day we only managed to spot 9 species of butterflies, the highlight being a Brown Argus, and a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. We did have 2 good sightings of a Kingfisher to add interest, plus there were some nice views of various Dragonflies and Damselflies and an interesting interaction with an inquisitive Robin.
We followed this up with a visit to Highdown Gardens on Thursday 6th of August attended by 12 members, on another sunny day. After the count in the gardens, we also went up to the meadow above the chalk pit to see if there was much variation in species between the two locations. We counted a total of 11 species of butterflies, and were surprised to see lots of Hummingbird Hawk Moths. The greatest numbers were Small Whites, Gatekeepers and the Hawk Moths, but the stand-outs were 2 Brown Hairstreaks, and 2 Clouded Yellows.
All of our records from both counts have been submitted to Butterfly Conservation to include in the national survey and the results are keenly awaited to see how the prolonged hot and dry weather has affected our Butterflies.
(All photos by Peter Dale)