Sussex Gives Me The Blues

 Last week's A-team of butterfly twitchers set off once again this morning as Phil, Alan and I headed south to West Sussex in search of Long-tailed Blues. There had been quite a few encouraging reports coming out of Lancing Ring near Shoreham and with the weather looking promising we decided to roll the dice. Things worked out in our favour, a hassle free journey down the M1 and the M25 providing the perfect start. Sunny skies met us on our arrival and we set out with grounds for optimism.

Wall Browns

It did not take too long for things to kick off with several Wall Browns a very welcome sight indeed. I'm old enough to remember seeing them in Northants but they've been gone from us for far too long. On our way to the spot where the blues had been reported we met two fellas that had some positive news to share, they had seen at least one Long-tailed already. We checked the area where the butterfly had been seen with no result though two other lepers reported having seen one too. In a spot sheltered from the breeze a Long-tailed Blue was seen flitting around but was constantly drawn into conflict with another. At first it didn't look as if they would settle and so I amused myself by going off to look at a Brown Hairstreak that someone had found close by. After enjoying some good views I returned to the area where the LTB's were performing and settled in for a potentially long wait.

Brown Hairstreak

Our wait actually proved to be a short one as a male appeared and then delighted us all by settling down on a grass stem. For the next quarter hour we were treated to great views of him, he occasionally rose up to fight off interlopers but always returned to the same area. Eventually we decided that it was time to move on towards an area of open country nearby. Luck seemed to be on our side as shortly after we found another territorial LTB that had adopted a patch of nettles as his territory. This scruffier individual jostled with at least one other Long-tailed as well as a few passing Holly Blues and we had some great views. The breeze was too strong to enjoy the open area and so we decided to head back to the car. In all five Long-tailed Blues were seen and they were a new UK species for all of us. A celebratory pint was called for in a local pub and after a good lunch we began the journey home. 

Long-tailed Blues