BUTTERFLIES
 DRAGONFLIES
 HOVERFLIES
 BUMBLEBEES

Bumblebees
Hoverflies
Butterflies
Solitary Bees
Adur Bees, Wasps & Sawflies
Flies
Ladybirds
Beetles
Moths
Grasshoppers & Crickets
Damselflies & Dragonflies
Bugs
Spiders

WILDLIFE REPORTS
 

31 July 2015

Three Wall Lizards, Podarcis muralis, were spotted around Shoreham Fort but I was more pleased to discover a Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus. A Hummingbird Hawk-moth, Macroglossum stellatarum, flew straight into the carnot wall on the south side. 

30 July 2015

Pristine Peacock Butterflies were flying around on Mill Hill, but on a cloudy day the male Chalkhill Blues were only eleven and that is a terribly low figure compared to other years. Conditions were not conducive to butterfly spotting but twelve species were spotted including the first definite Essex Skippers from the top meadow. 
Mill Hill Report

There was at least two reports of Barrel Jellyfish washed ashore on Shoreham Beach. 

29 July 2015
The large bird of prey circling over the Downs Link Cyclepath where it passes Old Erringham had a very light underwing, but still thought to be a Buzzard, which are almost regular in the last few years. Its silhouette was clear when it was seen against the clear sky rather than the blanket of black clouds. My first Large Skipper of the year was seen by a verge by (south of) the Cement Works. 
Butterfly Report

28 July 2015

During the spring the Lapwings leave the Adur estuary to breed inland. The first of the returning winter residents was seen feeding at low tide to the east of the Flood Arches. 

25 July 2015

23 July 2015
In the Butterfly Meadow, west Steyning, I had never seen so many butterflies on a single patch of Marjoram before. They were divided into Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns in about equal numbers at twenty each with one Ringlet and a Small Skipper. 

On a cycle ride to Steyning and back, I recorded thirteen butterfly species. Buddleia and Hemp Agrimony, (favourite butterfly nectar sources), were flowering abundantly on the verges of the Steyning Line Cyclepath to Steyning and back. But the Buddleia was more a home to Starlings and House Sparrows and it was not visited by many butterflies. There was variety on the verges but scores rather than large numbers of butterflies. A magnificent female Sparrowhawk was seen near Bramber Castle.
Butterfly Report

21 July 2015
A Swift flew over Mill Hill whilst a Skylark sang persistently. Of special note was my first Round-headed Rampion flower of the year near the path that winds its way through the lower slopes. Fourteen butterfly species were seen.
Butterfly & Moth Report

19 July 2015
 

Spectacularly a pristine Dark Green Fritillary stole the butterfly show in the sunny meadow south of the Reservoir on Mill Hill. It was blown a bit on the breeze and fluttered from one Greater Knapweed flower to another quite rapidly. Fourteen other butterfly species included five male Chalkhill Blues, new Peacocks, new Comma Butterflies, and the whirring Six-spotted Burnet Moths seen for the first time this year.
Mill Hill Report

14 July 2015

On a cloudy humid day, I spotted my first male Chalkhill Blue of the year on the lower slopes of Mill Hill at 1:43 pm. It flew off after 31 seconds and visited Self-heal, followed by Eyebright, and after four minutes flew strongly over the bottom hedge and disappeared from view entirely.
Butterfly Report

8 July 2015
It is three in the morning and still dark and the gulls are flying around making a tremendous racket with their repeated calls. It lasted for a few minutes and then goes quiet and a few minutes later it started again. 

6 July 2015
A pod of eight Dolphins were seen out to sea from Shoreham Beach.

Marbled White Butterflies were common with over a hundred seen but patchily distributed over Mill Hill. Meadow Browns 30+, Gatekeepers 25+, Small Heaths (8+)  with a few Small Whites, a few Large Whites, two Brimstones over the lower slopes, at least three Small Skippers on the middle slopes, and one Painted Lady in the upper meadow brought the tally to nine species on a pleasant day. The tenth species was my first ever confirmed Ringlet from Mill Hill Nature Reserve. 
Adur Butterfly List 2015

The dark Froglets in my garden pond had four legs and most had lost their tail and jumped out of the pond.

3 July 2015
I noted the first signs of the impending autumn with the first Buddleia in flower by the River Adur, and a large dragonfly hawking up The Street, Old Shoreham. This was possibly a Southern Hawkerbut it seems too early in the year for this species?
Adur Dragonflies
 

Gatekeeper	Marbled White

Twelve species of butterfly were seen on the lower slopes of Mill Hill including 60+ Marbled Whites and my first Gatekeepers of the year in the humid sunshine.
Butterfly Report

1 July 2015
There were a few reports of Stag Beetles in Shoreham.
The dark Froglets in my garden pond had four legs and many (a dozen or so) had lost their tail and were jumping around the Duckweed. 
The Golden Tench was gasping at the water surface in the heat and I brought it inside into an aerated bucket. It was released into a larger pond. 
 

July 2014 Reports

Wild Flowers 2015
Shoreham Weather 2015

EasyTide (Shoreham)

Shoreham Beach Weather Station
 

Adur Nature Notes 2013