West Sussex Getaway.

 A couple of days after my birthday, Lisa and I headed over to West Sussex to visit some of our favourite areas. As I was leading a group over there in a few days time, it was also a recce for that too, although, as Lisa would not be with me then, it was a chance for her to see some of the species she would otherwise miss this year. We would be staying overnight in a lovely pub Bed and Breakfast too at Petworth, which would also give us the chance to go Nightjar watching. Something we had never done together, and as Lisa had only had one encounter with Nightjar before, and it had been many years since I had seen one, it was an added incentive for the trip.

We started off at Kithurst Meadow, near Storrington, a lovely meadow that is full of butterflies, and very close to the carpark. We were soon watching lots of Duke of Burgundy, Common Blue, Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak and Brimstone. As I had filled my boots with my Kent visit only a couple of days earlier, my camera didn't really get any use, but Lisa was in her element photographing many species. The only photo I took was of a Pyrausta purparalis that settled on a Bramble flower.

Pyrausta purparalis.

We then headed over to the Sussex/Surrey border to look for the Wood White. We first called into a Sussex site, but here we only saw a single Wood White, along with many Brimstone and Hairy Dragonflies and Broad-bodied Chasers. However, after moving on to Surrey, we saw many more Wood White. These included several courtship interactions between them. This is always great to watch, as the male stands in front of the female flashing his wings and rubbing his antennae on her as well as licking her wings with his proboscis. None of these encounters resulted in a mating this time though.

Wood White courtship. Male on left.

Other Wood White's were busy nectaring, and one seemed to have a liking for the Greater Stitchwort, that was growing in profusion along the woodland rides. 

Wood White on Greater Stitchwort.

As we had seen a notice that the road would be closed the following week, on the day of the tour, we walked to a different carpark, to see if it would be suitable for the van I would be using that day. On the way to the carpark we suddenly had a Downy Emerald dragonfly flying around the ride. In all my years of photographing insects, I have never had one of these dragonflies settle in front of me for long enough to get a photo, so as the dragonfly flew closer to the bushes along the ride, I started to think that just maybe, today was the day that one would. As it did indeed settle, we both crept very carefully towards it, and amazingly it stayed long enough for both of us to get lots of shots. Even better, another Downy Emerald joined in and we had a choice of 2 of them, both landing on the bushes, sometimes too high, but other times at the right height. At last I now have photos in my collection of this beautiful emerald dragonfly.

Downy Emerald.

We stayed in the wood late in the afternoon, eventually seeing a couple of the Wood White go to roost. We then drove to Petworth to our accommodation for the night. After settling in, and after dinner, we decided we just about had time to head to a nearby heathland to hear, and hopefully see, some Nightjars. Even before we had reached the area where I was thinking of waiting for them, we had heard 2 churring away. It really is a fabulous sound that this bird makes, and eventually we were surrounded by 4 different birds churring. Unfortunately, we only had a very brief view of one as it flew past quite near, but it really was a great end to the day, although the number of midges we could have done without!!

The following day we headed to Ebernoe Common. I was no longer doing the recce for the forthcoming tour. It wasn't long before we were looking for Orange-tip larvae on the Garlic Mustard plants. Several were seen, as well as a Long-horned Beetle that landed on me at one point. Nightingales were heard, and Grizzled Skippers were seen along with Small Copper and more Brimstone. After a great walk around here, we decided to head to the local river, on just a long shot to look for the 'uncommon' Common Clubtail dragonflies. We certainly were not expecting to see any of these, but, within less than a minute of joining the river bank, Lisa spotted a dragonfly in the long grass. A closer look revealed it was indeed, a Clubtail. Wow, that was unexpected. Further along the river we found 3 more of them, as well as lots of their excuvia, the larval case they would have crawled out of the river in. 

Common Clubtail dragonfly, newly emerged.

Common Clubtail newly emerged. (Excuvia can be seen below the dragonfly).

Common Clubtail expanding its wings for flight.

Common Clubtail excuvia.

This site is also extremely good for our Demoiselle species. These were also emerging in big numbers, and at the far end of the river footpath, there is an area where the damselflies hunt. Both male and female Banded Demoiselle were photographed here.

Female Banded Demoiselle.

Male Banded Demoiselle.

It really was a fabulous couple of days, with some unexpected sightings along the way.

A few days later I did the butterfly tour. On these tours I rarely take any photos, but I did get the camera out for the special sighting of a female Duke of Burgundy that had just emerged from its pupa and was drying her wings out on the top of a small blade of grass. Mary, one of the clients had found this as we wandered around Kithurst meadow. 

Female Duke of Burgundy preparing for her first flight.