BUTTERFLIES
 DRAGONFLIES
 HOVERFLIES
 BUMBLEBEES

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

29 October 2009
The Indian summer resumes (15.5 °C at midday) and I visited Mill Hill directly through the Dovecote Estate, where at the top of the estate a damaged Painted Lady Butterfly seemed incapable of flying long distances. With the exiguous supply of nectar flowers on Mill Hill, the four other butterfly species were very lively indeed with  two male Adonis Blues, two Common Blues, two Clouded Yellows and a Red Admiral. 
Full Butterfly Report
Adur Fungi (October 2009)

26 October 2009
My walk along the Pixie Path found the identical Holly Blue Butterfly of the previous day. This was followed by a very pale Clouded Yellow and a bright yellow one. I thought I was going to draw a complete blank on the lower slopes of Mill Hill, when a pure white black lined Clouded Yellow fluttered rapidly past. This was the first time I had seen a completely white one and I have identified this this as a female Clouded Yellow var. Helice, which would be a first for Mill Hill. 
 

Pheasant on the Pixie Path	Adonis Blue on Mill Hill

Then to my surprise a nearly new male Adonis Blue was spotted on a single Devil's Bit Scabious flower its presence preventing a female Common Blue from landing. The iridescence was quickly noticeable when the Adonis Blue was first spotted. Seven species of butterfly, including another Clouded Yellow, were seen on an overcast day. 
Full Butterfly Report

25 October 2009
About fifty Lapwings all rose in unison from the mudflats on the River Adur north of the Toll Bridge, spooked by a female Sparrowhawk seen above the trees near Ricardos. Sycamore trees were losing their leaves but the Willows were still green and a large Elm in Buckingham Park, Shoreham, was still all in leaf. Everywhere the female Holly was in spectacular berry. The Ivy was still attracting numerous worker Common Wasps and the common species of hoverflies, but the only butterfly recorded on Ivy was a surprise third brood Holly Blue. 
Full Butterfly Report
Adur Trees 2009

23 October 2009
With the first mushrooms after the rain and an autumnal feel under a cloudy sky, a female Holly was decorated with red berries with a small tree on the Mill Hill Cutting/top of the Pixie Path as spectacularly berried as would seem possible.
 

	Common Ink Caps  Coprinus atramentarius
Holly	Hawthorn

Adur Fungi 2009
Adur in Flower (October 2009)
Adur Trees (October 2009)

15 October 2009
The bright turquoise of a Kingfisher arrowing its flight over the Lapwing covered mudflats on the River Adur north of the Toll Bridge was a splendid sight. The tiny speck of brilliant colour flew towards a perching Little Egret. 
 

Lapwings	Gulls

Over the ploughed fields of Coombes Farm seen from the bridlepath to Lancing Ring, hundreds of Wood Pigeons rose from the stubble. High up above in the blue sky with fluffy white cumulus clouds a Peregrine Falcon was mobbed by a Crow. On the river south and north of Cuckoo's Corner, 200+ Common Gulls congregated in a mixed gull roost with frequent Greater Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, with a few Crows and Redshanks. 
Birds of Sussex

12 October 2009
Life for the declining number of butterflies was beginning to becoming more difficult. The Ivy was still an attractant but everywhere the bushes were dominated by swarms of wasps, bees and flies with the occasional bumblebee and the butterflies if they were able to find a perch it was an even chance that it would be right at the top of the bush. Predatory dragonflies were frequently seen, mostly Common Darters, but also at least one Southern Hawker. 
 

Southern Hawker	Clouded Yellow

Red Admirals were the only butterfly that were numbered in double figures with 14 or 15. Twelve butterfly species were seen on the day including at least five, possibly as many as eight Clouded Yellows, one of which was seen to settle on purple nectaring flowers.  At least half of the six male Common Blues on the lower slopes of Mill Hill were in a very fresh condition. 
Full Butterfly Report

10-11 October 2009
A juvenile Common (or Harbour) Seal, Phoca vitulina, was seen swimming in the River Adur estuary by the Surry Hard, near where some of the smaller fishing boats are moored. On the second day the seal was reported by Andrew Bellamy in the river at Upper Beeding. Seals are a rare sight off the mid-Sussex coast, but a few have been seen off Shoreham Beach before. The nearest rookery is a small group of seals in Chichester Harbour which are occasionally seen around Selsey (Seal Island).

8 October 2009

The highlight of the day was a young fresh looking Grass Snake that coiled and uncoiled immediately front of me sliding downhill and across the path through the lower slopes of Mill Hill, just as path enters the Hawthorn scrub to the north. 
Shrubs were covered in the red berries of Hawthorn, Holly, Wayfaring Tree, Dog Rose, Yew and Cotoneaster, and black berries of Bramble, Elderflower and Privet on the downs and outskirts of Shoreham. 
Adur in Berry (October 2009)
 

Devil's Bit Scabious	Small Copper

I was curious to discover how much the inclement weather of the last four days and the rain deluge of the previous day had affected the butterfly populations and if I would see any at all. As I opened my gate in Corbyn Crescent, Shoreham, an unexpected Clouded Yellow Butterfly flew past, skirting the Garden Privet hedges. This was the first of 26 Clouded Yellows, the most prevalent butterfly seen in the afternoon of thirteen species including the Brown Argus and Holly Blue (third brood) not seen previously this month. Swarms of wasps, bees, hoverflies and other flies and just a few butterflies covered the Ivy bushes on the Pixie Path and Mill Hill. The second most prevalent butterfly were Red Admirals with eleven counted. 
Full Butterfly Report
Adur in Berry (October 2009)

2 October 2009
As the sun was still shining, I thought I would make a detour through the outskirts of Old Shoreham and to the top part of Mill Hill. Nine species of butterflies were seen with over twenty Red Admirals, as well as frequent Painted Ladies amongst the Ivy. The small brown moths seen over the hedgerows and for the last few days were thought to be Vapourer Moths, Orgyia antiqua. There were about fifty Common Darter dragonflies over the tarmac path next to the meadow to the north of the upper car park on Mill Hill Nature Reserve. 
Full Butterfly Report
 

Common Ragwort	Painted Lady	Common Blue (female)

Comma Butterfly	Comma Butterfly

1 October 2009
A pleasant (17.3 °C) beginning to October with a Light Breeze (Force 2) blowing from the NNW (N veering to NW) brought a dozen species of butterflies out to visit the few remaining nectar flowers and lizards out to bask in the sun, through a blue sky with wisps of cumulus clouds. Meadow Browns led the way with 13 counted followed by Common Blues with 8, all seen on Mill Hill. 
Full Butterfly Report

In the afternoon, I spotted seven Wall Lizards, Podarcis muralis, at the Old Fort (at the far eastern end of Shoreham Beach) with only a cursory attempt to look for them. 
Adur Lizards
 

Sussex Butterfly Reports (Butterfly Conservation Society)
UK Butterflies: Sightings