Join us for a day out in Sussex, looking for Brown Hairstreak and other late summer butterflies.

West Sussex is a stronghold for the rare Brown Hairstreak and chalk grassland species such as Adonis Blue, Chalk-hill Blue and Silver-spotted Skipper.

We will spend the morning on the Steyning Downland Scheme, arguably the best site in Britain to see Brown Hairstreak, made famous by Patrick Barkham in his book, ‘The Butterfly Isles’. This wonderful community conservation project has some fantastic stands of Blackthorn, the Brown Hairstreak’s larval foodplant, which is carefully managed for this species. We should hopefully see males dancing about in the Ash and Sycamore trees, and maybe females either freshly emerged from their pupae or egg-laying in the Blackthorn. There are several other butterfly species here, including Common Blue, Brown Argus, Wall Brown and sometimes Clouded Yellow, and a wealth of dragonfly, bee and hoverfly species, as well as spectacular Wasp Spiders.

We will eat our lunch at this site. It will be possible to stop to purchase lunch and drinks on the way from Burgess Hill Train Station to Steyning, however, it is preferable for guests to bring a packed lunch if possible to allow us to make the most of our time in the field.

We will then spend the afternoon up on the chalk downs north of Brighton, amongst Adonis and Chalk-hill Blues and Silver-spotted Skippers. There are also several endemic species of flora to be found in this habitat, such as Autumn Lady’s Tresses orchids, Round-headed Rampion (also known as ‘The Pride of Sussex’) and Carline Thistle. Another highlight is the impressive Hornet Robberfly, Britain’s largest species of fly.

Generally speaking, the paths are good, but walking boots are recommended as the paths can be uneven and undermined by rabbit burrows. There are quite a few slopes involved, although the steepest can be traversed diagonally.