Small Eggar Emergence.

 Since first finding a new colony of Small Eggar on my patch back in 2017 I have been hoping to finally see an adult moth. Finding the colony was a very significant find as the species is thought to be extinct in West Sussex and not far off that in East Sussex. 

The larval webs are large and obvious, a bit of a problem for them if any Cuckoos are about I guess as each larva would be a tasty snack. Each web can hold large numbers of the larva and as last year I found 58 webs I decided that there were so many larvae I could try and rear a few through to adult moths, which could well be the only way I would ever see an adult as the colony is almost certainly too far away for one to make it to the garden trap.

In the end I brought 7 near fully grown larvae home to rear. One that I called Houdini somehow managed to escape, but the other 6 all eventually pupated and then it was a waiting game hoping they would hatch in the following Spring. This species have been known to stay as a pupa for several years and it is thought that most take 2 years to hatch in the wild.

Of the 6 pupa I have now had 3 emerge as adult moths, 2 male and 1 female. I was hoping that the female would be mated by one of the males but unfortunately neither male seemed interested??

I have been holding back posting this in case the others hatch, but with it being 2 weeks since the 3 hatched it looks as though either they are not going to hatch at all or it will be another year before they do. I was also hoping to find an egg mass on the bushes where the webs were last year.

22nd May 2020. 2 groups basking in the sun.

4th June 2020. 

A Fully Grown Small Eggar Larva.

6 Small Eggar Pupa. (Note the small holes which are needed so the insect can breathe).

Female pupa slightly larger.

Female Small Eggar.

Male Small Eggar.

More Good Signs.

 Several warmer, sunny days have accelerated that feeling of Spring.

On a longish walk a few days ago the local dew pond produced a smart pair of Toads mating in the weed and although they didn't come up for air whilst I was there they were near enough to the surface for a few grab shots.

Mating Toads.

After a couple of recent attempts at the moth trap I have at last caught with 3 moths in or around the trap. Nothing spectacular, although I did catch my first Pale Brindled Beauty which was found sitting on the fence, where its camouflage was making it almost invisible.

Pale Brindled Beauty.

2021 Spring has Sprung.

 Yesterday it really felt as though Spring had arrived with wall to wall sunshine and, for once, light winds. A morning walk with Clare didn't produce the hoped for butterfly, although many Bumble Bees and a Wasp were seen along with some gorgeous Spring Lambs.

Back home and a Red Admiral flew through the garden, my 3rd butterfly of the year and 2nd species. I then decided to do yet more scrub clearance up on the Downs before the nesting season gets going and 2 more butterflies showed themselves. Firstly, a lovely Comma, followed by an even nicer Small Tortoiseshell. The Small Tortoiseshell was only seen in very small numbers in the area last year so hopefully seeing one flying strongly early in the season is hopefully a good sign.

No photos were taken of the butterflies as I wasn't in a photo mode as I had the scrub clearing gear so I have included here some early season photos of the 3 species from past years!!

Small Tortoiseshell.

Comma.

Red Admiral.

Up and Running!!

 On such a fabulous day it was great to get my butterfly year up and running.

Following several sessions of scrub clearance when I had seen the odd Wall Brown larvae I decided today to go and have a look to see if the early signs of better numbers was still holding up.

My highest ever count of these larvae was a couple of different counts of 40 a couple of years ago. Today it didn't take me very long to reach that number, and after reaching 50 I called a halt. Many of the tussocks had multiple larvae in them and I have never found it so easy to spot them.

During the count I also had 2 Peacock flying around me, and fortunately one of them landed so I could grab some photos. Both were different to the Peacock I had seen on the last day of 2020. That one had some wing damage that todays butterflies didn't have.

Peacock. 

Wall Brown larva.

Looking Back.

 With very little happening locally, and that is all we can do at the moment, I have re-worked a few images from the distant past.

These 4 are all from a couple of trips away with Pen, with 2 damselfly shots from when we stayed at Lyndhurst in the New Forest. We had found that the Balmer Lawn Hotel looked after us quite well on a couple of occasions and as I was keen to have a further search for the Southern Damselfly we arranged for a couple of nights away during the flight season. This species is very rare and only found in a few locations, and my only search before had resulted in failure.

Leaving Pen to relax in the grounds I headed off to a site that I heard can be very good for the target species, and it wasn't to disappoint with good numbers seen. A mating pair gave me the best opportunities for photos, and a little bonus was another mating pair, this time a pair of Small Red Damselflies.

Southern Damselflies.

Small Red Damselflies.

The following year, for my birthday, Pen took me to the Isle of Wight to hunt out the Glanville Fritillary. This species I had only seen before at a site where they had been introduced, so I was keen to see them in their natural environment.

The problem was it was right at the start of their flight season, and there was a good chance we wouldn't see any. On the day we went there hadn't been any reports of them flying and I really thought we would be missing out. There were however, lots of larvae about, another bad sign as far as seeing the adults were concerned. 

The larvae were mostly fully grown and a few shots were taken. I now wish I had looked a little harder for any pupa as they are particularly attractive as pupa goes!! 

Glanville Fritillary larva.

On the 2nd morning I did get lucky by seeing a couple of adult butterflies, the only ones I did see. 

It certainly was a relief to find them on this special trip!!

Glanville Fritillary.

A Final Flutter for 2020.

 The final day of 2020 was pretty icy with the hardest frost so far of the Winter. However, the sun was shining brightly and with a gentle North wind I thought there was an outside chance of a final butterfly of the year, after all, the conditions were very similar to January 1st 2019 when I saw a Peacock in the same area I was going to now.

On the mile long walk the air was pretty bitter and the ground was frozen. On arrival on the South facing slope it was suddenly warm with the sun beaming down. A quick look produced a Wall Brown larva feeding in the sunshine. Moments later a large butterfly flew past me and settled 20 feet away. It was either a Red Admiral or a Peacock. I gradually moved to a position where I had a clear view and saw it was indeed a Peacock. The butterfly then flew again but landed in a much better position allowing a few photos.

A December 31st Peacock.

A little while later on a valley that was still sheltered from the sunshine the ground was still white, as it was in the garden for the rest of the day.

Frosty leaves.

A lovely Brown Hare was also seen from a distance bringing a rewarding final walk of 2020 to a close.

Part 2 2020 Highlights.

 With travelling distances still being restricted as we moved into the Summer I was still having to stay within walking distance from home most of the time. This threw up more surprises and some quite rare finds.

In the early Summer I surveyed the valley for Small Eggar signs, having first finding a larval web of this species back in 2017. This is a rare moth in Sussex and was a very big surprise finding them local to me. Each year since I have found a few webs with a maximum count of 5. However, in 2020 there seems to have been a bit of a population explosion as I found 58 webs in total with probably several more being out of sight. The fully grown larva is particularly attractive.

Small Eggar larva.

My most popular find was another Large Tortoiseshell. This one, apart from some wing damage on one side, was much fresher than the Spring one. I also managed to get several friends onto the butterfly during its short stay along the valley.

Large Tortoiseshell.

James found a really nice Silver-washed Fritillary ab. confluens in Abbotts Wood that I managed to catch up with the following day. A really smart butterfly!!

Silver-washed Fritillary ab. confluens.

On the subject of aberrant forms, I was really pleased to find a Small Copper ab. shmidtii which is a form I have always wanted to see. To have found it myself made it even more special. Unfortunately it was a really hot day and the butterfly was very active so I didn't manage to get any good photos. 3 record shots remind me of this special butterfly though. As far as I am aware nobody else saw this particular butterfly.

Small Copper ab. schmidtii.

Probably the rarest moth I found was a Lace Border. With this being the 4th sighting in Sussex since the mid 1970s it was a very good find on my local patch. It probably had migrated over from the continent although the foodplant for the species is found in the vicinity. A thorough search later in 2021 is in order to see if a colony can become established. Once again only a poor record shot was achieved unfortunately before it flew into a bush and vanished.

Lace Border.

I had several days over the Summer searching for Clearwing moths. My favourite photos were of a Yellow-legged Clearwing in a woodland near Ringmer, and a Raspberry Clearwing that I was very surprised to catch in my own garden.

Yellow-legged Clearwing.

Raspberry Clearwing.

Dave invited me over to watch his garden Badgers one evening. Despite seeing Badgers on many occasions over the years it was excellent seeing one so close.

Badger.

My final highlight of the year was to find several local colonies of Willow Emerald damselflies. This species has been spreading all over the South East and it was only a matter of time before they appeared on the River Cuckmere. 

Male Willow Emerald.