Dukes Launch 'Save Our Butterflies Week' In Sussex

I'm pleased to say we were blessed with decent weather and a good turn-out of both people and butterflies for the BC 'Save Our Butterflies Week' launch event in Sussex, held at Heyshott Escarpment on Saturday 18th May.

On the walk itself we saw 20 - 30 Duke of Burgundy without straying from the footpaths. I later returned to scour the site and counted 42, including 3 females. I estimate they are still a week to ten days from peak here.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the discovery that Pearl-bordered Fritillary has moved onto the site. I was gobsmacked to see a male during the walk, and even more surprised to later watch a female PBF make her first, unsteady flight. They used to occur along the Downs here in the C21st, so this might signal a welcome return. It's 11.5 Km to Rewell Wood, where the species thrives, so I suspect they've been hiding out in Charlton Forest, just over the ridge from Heyshott.

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