Big Butterfly Count
The Big Butterfly Count 2019 ended last weekend on August 11th. Citizen scientists made an amazing 104,294 counts and logged their finding on Butterfly Conservation’s website. Here is a link to the RESULTS MAP.
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Skippers
Skippers are a family of Hesperiidae in the order of Lepidoptera; because they are diurnal, we generally called them butterflies but many authorities class them as a group intermediate between butterflies and moths. They are called skippers because of their rapid and darting flight.
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A peacock butterfly on bramble, by DKG.
And the underwings of a common blue that DKG found this morning in Lambrok Meadow.
BIRD STRIKE
A lucky speckled wood that just got away at the cost of a more than half of one of its four wings.
The picture is by DKG
Big Butterfly Count
Yesterday was the first day of the Big Butterfly Count. Here are some of the park’s butterflies to encourage you to sign up.
Southwick Country Park’s BUTTERFLIES 2019 list
The day’s wanderings
by Ian Bushell
There was a Common Blue butterfly just emerged in the old pond at the end of Lambrok Meadow and, after a long chase, I got a picture of a female Southern Hawker (see above) near the carved Wheel close to the Picnic area.
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Tattered butterflies
The first meadow brown butterflies hatch at the end of May and by now, the middle of July, some are beginning to look really tattered.
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Every year since 2010, Butterfly Conservation has conducted a survey of the country’s butterflies using thousands of volunteer citizen scientists. Last year over 100,000 volunteers took part.
Continue reading “big butterfly count”Peacock butterflies
Four nests of peacock caterpillars have been photographed in the park this year and we hope there are more. Those caterpillars will be pupating soon and we will begin to see the new adults this month.
Continue reading “Peacock butterflies”Mail from DKG
” Took these early this morning whilst the butterflies were still resting. A Gatekeeper and one other which may be a Meadow Brown or may not. There were so many of them in The Triangle near the picnic area.”
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.….. and a small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris), which is number sixteen on our list.
Image: Creative Commons
Three more butterflies for our 2019 list and two more peacock nests; things are finally looking better.
Continue readingPart two of Ian’s walk
After he had polished the mud off his glasses, Ian Bushell continued his survey of the park:
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Here is a fascinating little video of a peacock butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. We know that there are at least two nests of peacock caterpillars in the park so, by the end of July, we should see these beautiful adults.
Beautiful images of a meadow brown taken in the park last night, at the end of the year’s longest day, by Chris Seymour.
