Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos.
It pays to have a great deal of patience when it comes to wildlife watching and this day provided another good example. After nearly a month away I returned to normal Friday duties with a mission to try to find one our iconic summer species, the brown hairstreak butterfly which is nationally very scarce and something I’ve not seen before in adult form.
In January I had taken part in an egg hunt to establish how widely the females had been laying eggs in the blackthorn bushes (the main food plant for the caterpillars) around the reserve. I had marvelled at the astonishing design packed into an egg no larger than the size of a pin head
Surely it was now time to catch up with the adult butterfly
I set out for “Hairstreak Corner” just by the junction where the path goes down to Jupps View and Nettley’s Hide. This affords a good view of the “master” ash tree, near the top of which the male hairstreaks congregate while waiting for passing females. It is also a good stretch of path for butterflies generally, being sheltered and sunny with plenty of wildflowers by the side of the path.
Sitting on the seat near the path and looking up at the ash tree and the bushes below it there were lots of speckled woods to be seen
a few rather tired looking meadow browns, along with a pair of bullfinches. I was able to observe the speckled woods perch with their wings folded but pointing towards the sun to avoid getting too hot, something which several species of butterfly will do.
Some very orangey brown butterflies fluttered around but simply would not perch to give me a chance of positively identifying them, let alone provide a photograph. I couldn’t decide whether this was frustrating or an encouraging sign. At all events I couldn’t think of another species flying this late in the summer that would present this colour.
After about 20 minutes of fruitless searching I was joined by a lady who’d been directed to me by the Visitor Centre reception as she was on a mission to photograph brown hairstreaks. I explained as much as I could about the lifestyle of the butterfly and why this could be the best spot on the reserve to see them. However there was no sign of my earlier orangey brown flutterers and after half an hour’s interesting discussion we proceeded to Jupp’s View. Here the only butterflies to be seen were large and small whites. Then a radio call from West Mead suggested that hobbies were to be seen well there and our visitor decided that they were worth interrupting her search and set off back up the path.
In the meantime I noted a lot of geese on the North Brooks, mostly greylags and a fair number of Canada geese, plus teal (all female), but no waders in view. Outside Nettleys Hide a brown hawker dragonfly was patrolling the channel in front and I made a near fruitless attempt to photograph this in flight. However just one not very good shot rather curiously appears to show the abdomen curling up in flight – not something I’ve observed before.
I then returned to Hairstreak Corner to eat lunch and have another shot at the butterflies. There were still no hairstreaks to be seen but then another radio call came in from West Mead. A brown hairstreak had landed right in front of the hide while my lady visitor was there! I was pleased for her but It was clearly not going to be my day. It’s worth noting here that brown hairstreaks have been observed to spread quite widely from the master tree so it is possible to see them almost anywhere on the main trail.
I consoled myself by examining the path verge near the corner. Here there were several fleeting glimpses of clouded yellow butterflies – a species that can often be seen at this time of year. Unfortunately they fly quite fast and don’t seem to perch very often so I was unable to take a photograph. However I’d been lucky enough to be able to snap one perching in the Channel Islands earlier in the summer.
These butterflies are interesting migrants which undertake a northerly migration from North Africa and Southern Europe over the summer months and can produce up to 3 generations in course of the year just in the UK while still travelling North. Some of them reach Scotland. I suppose there is a tiny possibility that my Channel Islands butterfly could have been an ancestor of some of the ones being seen at Pulborough now.
As well as the fleeting clouded yellows there were good views of common blues, small coppers and small whites happily perching long enough to photograph, the fleabane and ragwort providing a good source of nectar.
At the Hanger it became clear that there were waders on the North Brooks as both green sandpipers and a greenshank could be seen. Down at Nettley’s Hide these had been obscured by the rushes which seem to have grown extra long this year after the mild wet winter. A hobby drifted across no doubt keeping an eye out for dragonflies.
At Winpenny Hide it was good to see a solitary green sandpiper on the soft muddy margins of the pool. In recent years this pool has rarely attracted much of interest even after it was dug deeper 2 years ago in order to retain more water. The diggings at West Mead undertaken at the same time seem to have been more successful.
By the time I reached West Mead there was no sign of brown hairstreaks nor indeed anything else apart from grazing cattle. So I was forced to abandon my hunt for another week.
At the end of the afternoon I had a final look for dragonflies on the pond by the Visitor Centre. None were to be seen, however the afternoon sun was lighting up the water lilies beautifully.