On Tuesday 29 July, 9 members (plus a dog) met up in the Bluebird cafe car park for a second Big Butterfly Count near the Ferring Rife. This followed on from our previous one at Cissbury Ring.
Although the weather started very dull, it gradually warmed up, and we managed to count a total of 42 butterflies, with 16 Large Whites, 14 Gatekeepers, 9 Speckled Woods, and 1 each of Small White, Comma and Red Admiral. These numbers were split into 3 counts, and entered onto the national database.
We also spotted a couple of “woolly bear” caterpillars, which we identified as being those of the White Ermine moth.
We also saw a Grey Heron, a flock of at least 10 Little Egrets (24 had been seen there the previous day), and a possible young Great White Egret, plus Moorhens, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk, as well as some feeding Swallows and Swifts.