Our butterfly survey today produced just 4 butterflies (a Speckled Wood and a Red Admiral and two Brimstones) across the whole reserve. It was disappointing but we are in what's known as the June Gap that you can read about here - Mind The Gap - Where are the butterflies? | Butterfly Conservation (butterfly-conservation.org) By June the first emergence of butterflies that have two broods a year (e.g. Brimstones and Holly Blues) have laid their eggs and the adults have died and the single brood species, such as Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown, are yet to emerge. We shouldn't be too worried.
It seems to be a good year for Common Spotted Orchids. We saw hundreds at Wakehurst Place, near Haywards Heath, yesterday and there are good numbers at Broadwater. There's a photo of a fine specimen on the right below and also one of the rarer Bee Orchid on the left. I found just two Bee Orchids today while I was walking my butterfly transect and I need to go back for a proper search.
Wealden Reserves Office Manager