WILDLIFE
REPORTS
30
August 2019
Common
Blue, Buddleia with
a visiting Clouded
Yellow, Adonis
Blue
Adonis
Blue on Devil's
Bit Scabious, Chalkhill Blue
or Adonis Blue
Mill
Hill
In
the late afternoon the sun came out and I
made a hurried visit to the lower slopes of Mill
Hill, where I spotted my first two restless Clouded
Yellow Butterflies of the year, with eight
other species. The downs were parched with
dried grasses and relatively few flowers.
There were three species of reptile:
a Common Lizard. a
half a dozen fat Slow Worms,
and a juvenile Adder.
Mill
Hill Report
25
August 2019
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Ruddy
Darter
At
Bramber, the sandy coloured water of Castle
Lane Park pond rippled at the surface with shoal of over a hundred
Rudd
could be seen in the bright sunshine. A pair of Emperor
Dragonflies, Anax
imperator, patrolled without stopping,
but two pairs of Ruddy Darters
were more engaged in copulation in flight.
Adur
Dragonflies
22
August 2019
A
Kestrel
hung
in the breeze over Mill
Hill upper and middle north there were eleven
species of butterfly
including
25+ immigrant Painted Ladies.
The Buddleia
was swaying in the breeze too much for an afternoon photograph on the western
edge of the upper car park. A Common Lizard
skitted over the low-lying vegetation into the shelter of the scrub.
Butterfly
Day List
20
August 2019
A
variety of Bramble, Holly Blue Butterfly
on Hemp Agrimony
Ectiminus
wasp,
Lesser
Centaury
Downs
Link Cyclepath, just north of the Flyover
9 August
2019
A
large 10 cm long yellow caterpillar of the Death's
Head Hawk-moth, Acherontia
atropos, was discovered in a north
Lancing garden. The moth is the largest moth
to appear in Britain, sporting a wingspan of up to 12 or 13 cm, a striking
species, though it is not native. Immigrants arrive from southern Europe,
usually several in each year, during the late summer and autumn.
Adur
Hawk-moths
5
August 2019
Colourful
immigrants, the attractive Painted Ladies,
finally arrived on Mill Hill in numbers:
about ten restless butterflies
on the middle slopes where the abundant flowering
Marjoram and Hemp
Agrimony did not attract as many butterflies
as in previous years. There were thirteen
species including mating Chalkhill
Blues,
worn and damaged male Adonis Blues,
new Wall Browns
and very frequent Meadow
Brown Butterflies. A
predatory
Hornet Robber Fly,
Asilus
crabroniformis, landed on the middle
slopes of Mill Hill. Carline Thistles
were now flowering and attracting Chalkhill
Blues.
Butterfly
Day List
1 August
2019
On
a cloudy early afternoon, again I chose the
short route down by the ridge path to the lower slopes of Mill
Hill.
Butterflies
were common on my short visit to Mill Hill. Despite the far from ideal
conditions I recorded ten species of butterfly
including over a hundred each of Chalkhill
Blues and
Gatekeepers
in
about an hour. It should have been the peak time for Chalkhill
Blues so the numbers were disappointing, again.
The first of the second brood
Adonis Blues
emerged.
Butterfly
Day List
LINKS
August
2018 Reports
Shoreham
Weather 2019
EasyTide
(Shoreham)
Adur
Nature Notes 2013 |
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