End of Year Tally 2018

The new season has kind of started, it was all going so well and the British weather reverted to type and as I type tis outside it’s cool, wet and very windy…Still this means that I might have a little time to get the Tally Posts up and running prior to the season getting back up and running…
This time last year I wrote that 2017 was “a funny old year” well if that was the case then 2018 was bloody hilarious! We had the mildest of winters in 2017-18 which almost felt like the way that I remembered Autumns in my youth. Then when things just seemed to actually be starting we suddenly got Winter – with snow and ice and plunging temperatures. This seemed to hold everything back and when Spring belatedly arrived most species were emerging late and seemed to be playing catch-up. As the weather went full bore towards Summer the temperatures sky rocketed and reached record levels but not only was it hot it was also really, really dry and in my area at least there was no June gap in 2018. After this things seemed to revert almost back to normal although there were some partial 2nd broods and miniscule blues and certain species took full advantage of the climatic conditions. I remember reading that after the record breaking year of 1976 the butterflies decreased noticeably in 77 and whether 2019 will see a similar decrease only time will tell, fingers crossed that it doesn’t…

The Browns

26 Specked Wood, 01-05-0218 Pewsey Vale

Overall I thought it was a fairly average year for the Specklies and I don’t know whether this is tied into their late arrival what with their arrival being an entire month later in 2019. Could the snow which hit in March have knocked them back considerably I wonder? The definitely seemed to have quiet phases and were down in some places whilst in others they were more noticeable. For example I found my first at work and I recall seeing a few out of place at Laverstock but in a more likely stronghold such as Bentley Wood they were much scarcer. Perhaps they were having a good year but their late arrival meant that they were busy playing catch-up and making up for lost time as well as making cats. This could be what I witnessed as they were still hanging on late into the year when I managed to see a couple on my final ‘proper’ visit out.

27 Wall, 17-05-2018 Pewsey Downs

Last year I wrote about a associating Wall with the number two (2 weeks early, two sites and 2 individuals) but this year things in the association game got a bit trickier. First of all they weren’t two weeks or even a week early but only 4 days earlier. Second up I saw them at three sites – Pewsey Downs, my Marshie site and Shipton Bellinger. At these sites the maximum number I saw was two at my Marshie site…hang on 4,3,2…I could go the whole hog and really overplay the association and say that the other sites only produced 1 individual and that there were zero coastal sites but that I think would be pushing it. Whilst it’s good that I saw them at Shipton Bellinger it will still a bit worrying to see so few but hopefully by visiting different sites next year I can catch up with a few more – there were 25 reported at Morgan’s Hill on one visit!

28 Marbled White, 17-06-2018 Daneways

The thing I’ll remember most from 2018 about Marbled Whites was from a visit to Lulworth Cove. As I sat on the pebbles, drinking my coffee and gazing out onto the azure, millpond still waters a tiny chequered flag fluttered along the mirror like waters; too white to be a small Skull and Cross Bones it was an errant Marbled White taking the most direct route from one side of the Cove to the other. There were plenty of other moments from 2018 of Marbled Whites to add to this one single stand out memory but I don’t think that this was down to their numbers being up. Actually to be honest they were again almost ‘Blink and you’d miss them’ once they’d emerged 2 days later than in 2017. I think this was why I had so many memories – I made a conscious effort to focus on them this year after treating them so disrespectfully last year.

29 Grayling, 07-07-2018 Godshill

I didn’t get to investigate whether there were any Grayling along the coast in West Wales as when I visited the weather was less than conducive for butterflies. In fact it wasn’t a spectacular year for me with this species. When I visited the ever reliable Godshill they were much harder to locate this year and at one point I’d almost given it up as a bad job until I stumbled across a couple. To be fair though perhaps they didn’t fare as poorly as I thought at first? Indeed there were two reports from within Wiltshire (right on the margins of Hampshire but still in Wiltshire) which was great news as they are considered extinct in the county. Plus I only managed to get to this one site where I know that they are and didn’t make it back to Dorset and the heaths this year. On top of this when I made my visit it was a fortnight earlier than in 2017 so perhaps they were still just ‘getting going’. Here’s hoping…
One thing I did discover this year should prove useful in future ventures when looking for this species. Often Grayling will zip about here and there making it generally difficult to follow them visually and sometimes they will finish this off with a flourish, flying directly at you and passing you so close that you think they will collide with you. As you spin round trying to locate them again somewhere in the distance they’ve completely vanished from view! But they haven’t. This year a Grayling carried out this ‘getaway plan’ on me but I happened to glance down to check my footing and there was the Grayling down on the deck directly behind me. I reckon that as it passed me it stalled and literally dropped to the ground where it waited for me to realise that I’d lost it and move off. Sorry Mr Grayling I’ve got your number mate! I eagerly await the Grayling 2019 season to see if this wasn’t just a one-off fluke.

30 Hedge Brown/Gatekeeper, 24-06-2018 Lulworth Cove

Almost a week earlier this year and my first came unusually from Lulworth Cove; not something I’d expected as I normally plan to pick my first Hedgie up from Bentley Wood. It felt at times like the trends seen last year continues – they were earlier but also fewer in number. I was seeming in the expected places but they were definitely down. They were also over comparatively quickly. Usually I can pick up plenty on the annual summer trip to Ffos-y-ffin but this year I was able to count the total on my hands. Also there were none of the unusual beauties that this little area has thrown up in the past and I think I saw only one excessa through the whole season. In between the UK Hedgies worrying me I took a family holiday to the Dordogne. Here they were much more ‘present’ and interestingly looked slightly different to those seen in the UK. The underwing didn’t have the noticeable cream band that runs from the bottom to the top of underside of the hind wing. Also the ground colour was much lighter and the spots were much less noticeable. In fact until I saw these slight ‘eyespots’ I was convinced that I’d seen a Southern Gatekeeper – is it possible that rather than the two separate species overlapping they form a graduated cline from Hedgie through to Southern?

31 Meadow Brown, 03-05-2018 Kingston Lacey

Almost three and a half weeks earlier this year and it looks like ‘getting up early’ did them good as it was a great year for Meadow Browns in my neck of the woods. Not only were they back to their fluttering and annoying best but that also turned up at most of the sites that I visited and they lasted well into September and beyond which was great. They were so early in fact that I wasn’t expecting my first when I did. I wonder if the Beast form the East did them a favour as the cold could have knocked any parasites and microbes on the head and then after the Beast we had some gorgeous warm weather which would have brought them on? Or was it the melting snow which gave the grasses a really concentrated drink? Whatever it was it was great to see so many butterflies. They even turned up at work in the sections of uncut grasses left as a meadow.

32 Small Heath, 21-05 2018 Laverstock Down

Last year I quickly moved on from this species as the report was so dire but things were much different in 2018. After arriving a fortnight later on the scene they seemed to be all over the place. One also turned up at work in the ‘Meadow’ which was very unexpected as I’d been worrying that we again would see a dearth of them. Instead they were often the commonest butterfly and I had to refrain from cursing them as they started on their old trick of spooking the other species I was trying to photograph. One thing I did notice this year from other peoples’ reports was a slightly odd behaviour. The butterfly would perch and occasionally flick it’s wings open. I saw this reported by at least three people as well as observing it personally. Why I still don’t know but it was very hot last year perhaps a method of cooling down or maybe during the dry weather they were more likely to get dust between their wings? Either way it’ll be something to look out for in successive seasons.

33 Ringlet, 17-06-2018 Daneways

My first Ringlet cam 4 days later this year on a dismal trip to Daneways. I was hoping that the weather forecast was correct but it changed drastically a minute before I left the house. As I said back then it was a bit of a trip for Ringlets and Marbled Whites! Again they had a good year but they were, like the Marbled Whites, almost a ‘blink and you’d miss them species’. They seemed to arrive on the scene and then they were gone again; was this because of the really warm weather accelerating their behaviour? Maybe it was because they were so abundant that I became Ringlet Blind, ignoring them for other butterflies as we had a quite compressed season; we started in slow motion then the season was ’freeze framed’ before the season hit fast forward. So in amongst all the frenetic catching up with slow starters and being surprised by the early arrivals I skimped on the Ringlets.

The Skippers

1 Small Skipper, 22-06-2018 Duke Site

SO to business…First on the list but not the first seen was Small Skipper which I saw for the first time at my Duke Site and 5 days later. I didn’t read too much into this at the time because it was only a matter of days and things were still catching up from a very late start to the season. However looking back now it wasn’t the later start that stood out but the apparent decline. I still saw them at all usual sites but in far fewer numbers. I was most struck by this when thinking back over my visits to Larkhill. True I made fewer visits there this year but on those visits the fields of ‘hundreds of Smessex’ just weren’t there. They seemed to be in their 30-40’s rather than 100’s. Last year at Larkhill they were almost in plague proportions but this year there was a famine of them. Possibly the high numbers I saw last year coloured my judgement and they’d just returned to a more usual balance after a very good year. Fingers crossed this is the case.

2 Essex Skipper, 28-06-2018 Work

2 Essex Skipper, 28-06-2018 Work
It seems that the Essex Skipper isn’t just extraordinarily alike to the Small in looks but also in their future outlook it seems. For like their slightly more ginger kin this species was also slightly later (7 days) and also notably reduced population wise. That being said I did have some more positive news for this species. I found a small colony (or more likely rediscovered…or even more likely actually noticed them) at work in the small patch of waste ground that was once the jumping pits. It’s always nice to find a species somewhere new especially when it means additional butterfly interest during a lunchtime break.

3 Lulworth Skipper, 24-06-2018 Lulworth Cove

When I visited their stronghold at Lulworth Cove they were already there which was earlier than I’d seen them last year. They were already in full swing and doing really well from the looks of things; crawling all over the cliff faces and venturing down to the shoreline to take slats from the recently exposed pebbles. One even decided to pay us a visit upon our arrival as we ate lunch taking up residence in our sunshade! Although I only saw than at this one site on one visit I was able to get the full gamut of shots – male, female, fresh, worn, taking salts, nectaring, a male and female in one shot and the crème de la crème, a mating pair. With favourable reports from Durlston it seems that this species protracted flight season is paying dividends as it can cope with periods of extreme weather be it cold, wet or hot and dry. Long may it continue.

4 Silver Spotted Skipper, 22-07-2018 Broughton Down

This year I was able to make two visits to Broughton Down the first of which came 2 days earlier than in 2017 yet there they were. It seemed that things had caught up and were marching ever onwards after the late start. The Silver Spots were in reasonable numbers on my first visit and were showing nicely so much so that I could see that some had already been out for a while; slightly frayed around the edges and starting to look greyer. On my second visit they were all over the place including over on the small triangle field right at the top of the site – somewhere I’ve not seen them before. Speaking of which I didn’t relocate any at Shipton this year but then I think the one form 2017 was just a (unsuccessful) scout. Despite this I felt slightly chuffed that they were having such good year.

5 Large Skipper, 02-06-2018 Bentley Wood

Despite seeing my first slightly further East it was still a few days later this year. Species were still playing catch-up even into June. I had a few notable moments with this species this year. The first came with finding my first of the year at Bentley Wood in between Small Pearls and Marshies in the Eastern Clearing. The second was when I found my first air in cop whilst checking out the ‘Meadows’ at work and the third was finding my second pairing at Slop Bog in between my first pair of Silver Stud pairs.
On the downside however I don’t recalls seeing them in the large numbers that I’m used to. Usually during their main flight they’re crawling all over the place at Larkhilll and Bentley Wood but I didn’t see that wasn’t the case this year. Was this one of the drawbacks of the old spring and then subsequent heatwave?

6 Dingy Skipper, 07-05-2018 Laverstock Down

A fortnight later this year which I can’t decide whether this was due to the late start or whether it was due to them reverting back to a more normal time frame? I also saw my first Dingy before a Grizzlie this year, but only by 5 minutes. They seemed to have a positive year and I can’t recall seeing as many as I saw during 2018? They were certainly out numbering the Grizzlies at Laverstock where I saw my first as well as at my Duke Site and they also cropped up at Larkhill and Bentley Wood too. My notions of them having a good year were backed up further by seeing several second brood individuals with one at Laverstock and then 2 on another occasion as well as finding one at Shipton while seeing Brostreaks.

7 Grizzled Skipper, 07-05-2018 Laverstock Down

Like their distant Dingy cousins the Grizzlies also had a bit of a lie-in this year, turning up a fortnight later than in 2017 and for the third year on the trot on the same day as my first Dingy. However the similarity ended there as they didn’t seem to fair as well as in previous years; I didn’t find them at Larkhill although they were at Bentley Wood in the Eastern Clearing and they were outnumbered by DIngies at almost all of the sites where I found them apart from Martin Down where they seemed to be doing quite well and were holding their own number wise compared to the Dingy – possibly due to the more suitable habitat? I also saw a Grizzlie in early August. But only because it was a malvoides and not malvae!

The Whites

8 Clouded Yellow, 26-07-2018 Laverstock Down

The Clouded Yellow made a welcome reappearance on my on my yearly tally in 2018. I was planned to make a trip to Southbourne in order to make sure that I saw one this year but I needn’t have worried as Laverstock Down produced the goods yet again on one of those most memorable of days; with early morning Chalkhills and Small Coppers, Brostreaks, second brood Dingy, Wall, Painted Lady all featuring amongst the cast of which the Cloudy was possibly the star.

I went ahead with the trip to Southbourne anyway as the girls wanted to see a particular film which was only showing in Bournemouth. I was glad that I did as I was able to catch up with a Cloudy looking resplendent despite the unseasonably cool weather. I’d definitely visit this site again, though possibly slightly earlier in the season when it’s a tad warmer. It will be good to have a back-up site for this species in reserve should there be a dearth in subsequent years. As for how they fared this year as always it is difficult to determine – I don’t recall there being mentions of masses and it definitely wasn’t a ‘Yellow’ year. The most interesting thing for me was that people were still seeing them into October at different sites along the South coast – possibly more small populations clinging on a making it through the winter in their little micro-habitats?

9 Brimstone, 05-04-2018 Salisbury

The Beast was responsible for one of latest ever sightings of this species; almost a whole month later. As usual it was on the first ‘brilliant’ day of the season – sun shining and barely a cloud in the sky. Despite the late start they did very well in the early part of the season and I noticed more females this year than last. Unlike last year they didn’t seem to keep going quite as strong and they seemed to peter out as the season progressed. Saying that there were still a few about and I saw my last one on my last ‘proper’ visit out in mid-October but I’m used to seeing many more fluttering around the floral beds of the various National Trust gardens that we visit in early Autumn. Hopefully they just got on with things and the next brood were laid and forming earlier which would explain their absence?

10 Large White, 26-04-2018 Work

A whole 24 days later this year though they were pretty early in 2017 so this may be more of a usual emergence time. Perhaps without the Beast they would have again emerged early? As like last year they seemed to do better in the subsequent broods and weren’t as low in number as I’ve seen in previous years but I’m still waiting for that seismic shift back to them ‘common’ and this year they were hardly that. Perhaps the very hot/dry period through May/June knocked them back a bit?

11 Small White, 19-04-2018 Vera Jones

I’ve been really struggling with working out what happened with this species during 2018. For a start they were 25 days later. Next they seemed to be absent from the hedgerows on the way home and despite a pick-up in their numbers later in the season they were never easy to find and were hardly ‘common’. Saying that I recall a fantastic afternoon in May when I arrived early to pick my wife up from a Yoga session. I took a quick stroll in the locale and looked out across the surrounding meadow and counted over 70 whites in one scan across the field. 70 in one field and there could have been more feeding down in the cover or obstructed from view by the dykes and rivulets. So with that in mind I really can’t make my mind up how they fared…

12 Green-veined White, 14-04-2018 Mottisfont

Only eight days later this year than last and like last year they seemed to be more numerous in the later broods but even so they were still well down to what I recall. Was this because they were adversely affected by the Beast and didn’t really make a comeback? Hopefully this year they will bounce back….One thing I did notice that I’d not before and will have to keep an eye out for this year was that those that I did see in the spring brood had a lovely yellow appearance whereas those in later broods appeared more contrasting black and white. This is the opposite of what I saw last year – is this a factor related to ambient temperatures during metamorphosis I wonder?

13 Orange-tip, 19-04-2018 Vera Jones

My first Orange-tip came 18 days later this year as a lot of these species were held back by the Beast from the East. However this did seem to do the butterflies a favour in that once they did arrive they were in great numbers - in fact I don’t think I can recall seeing as many OTs as I did in 2018. It helped off course that I’ve finally found my guaranteed OT site and also found their favourite hang-out spot at said site but I saw OT at pretty much every site I visited. They were bombing along at Stourhead, Work, Coombe Bissett, may Duke site, Noar Hill, Bentley Wood etc. The list goes on and while they were in the main part of their flight I saw OTs on pretty much every trip out including a monster of an OT at my Marshie site which size wise could have been an escaped Great Orane-tip! They also lasted well this year as I found a male in really good nick at the end of May. They were a joy to behold.

The “Aristocrats”

14 White Admiral, 01-07-2018 Bentley Wood

The White Admirals were running late this year (over 2 weeks) – or rather I was as I didn’t get to Bentley until the start of the ‘silly season’ and so missed out on the first flush of WA’s when they are really contrasting. Instead by the time I got to the woods they were looking a little ragged and had taken on the more dark brown appearance that seems to come with age for this species. I didn’t have to work too hard to find a couple in Bentley but my later visit meant that I can’t really be sure how they fared here though if I go with my digestive tract then I’d say that here at least they seemed fewer in numbers than last year?

15 Purple Emperor, 01-07-2018 Bentley Wood

It seems that the Emperors have taken to emerging early as this year they were out a day earlier than last. Mind you this could be because once again we experienced a period of searing temperatures and June really was ‘Flaming’.

Last year I reckoned that I was the second year into the usual three year cycle and so this would be the year when I would find them down on the ground. And so it turned out. It was cracking and the day is emblazoned on my mind as I experienced the full gamut of Emperor behaviour. There was the meet and greet from on high in the car park, surging flights along the tops of the Oaks that line the main ride, exploratory glides down lower and the final descent onto something utterly repulsive and in this case canine in origin. To cap it all not only did I get the open wing shots that I’d been craving and envying for several years but I was granted a private audience/trousering! It was fantastic to finally enjoy some quality time with this species. They seemed to have a good year number wise and there were huge numbers coming in from other sites too.

16 Red Admiral, 05-04-2018 Middle Street

After seeing my first much later this year, two months later in fact, seeing them through the spring was actually really tricky. They just didn’t seem to be around perhaps they were slowed down by the Beast from the East. The cold blast just as they were getting going possibly meant that they kept their heads down and got on with the business. Then when the summer started I started seeing them much more frequently. In fact by the end of the season, as is often the way they were at pretty much every site I visited and became the final species of the year. A much better finish than beginning.

17 Painted Lady, 15-07-2018 somewhere in Surrey…

In 2017 I saw just 4 of this species over the whole year and it felt what with their much later appearance (almost 6 weeks) that 2018 was going to follow in the same vain or maybe even worse. However after my initial sighting it seemed that the floodgates had been broken as I then saw two individuals at Laverstock, singletons at Broughton Down and Shipton Bellinger as well as at least 6 while sojourning in Wales. Whilst this isn’t exactly a record busting year it certainly beats the 4 from 2017 and is one of the best years in several for this species for me. Hopefully this year will finally be the year when we get another massive invasion, it’s been almost a decade since the last one…

18 Small Tortoiseshell, 21-03-2018 Work

Over a month later this year and once again I found my first at work but surprisingly I saw a Peacock prior to my first Tortie. After the masses that I saw last year I was hoping for a repeat performance this year too but whilst I could regularly find them in double figures in the short walk round the school site occasionally getting into the high teens my record number was 20 in one visit so a couple down on my highest number last year. They were also in good numbers at Middle Street but down at Five Rivers – possibly because this is an ‘early’ site for them and I missed them when Snow stopped play?

As last year they dwindled as the month progressed and rather than seeing in the teens I could occasionally find a couple with some pretty worn ones up on Pewsey Downs almost 2months after my first. After this they were very hard to come by in the Autumn although a Small Tort was my penultimate photographed butterfly of 2018. Tis marked drop-off in the summer brood happened in 2017 as well and they did okay in the Spring of 2018 so fingers crossed that they’re oaky for this year.

19 Peacock, 13-03-2018 Work

Normally it’s a Small Tort photo wise and a first fleeting view of a Red Admiral but not so this year. Unusually a Peacock was my first photographed and first seen butterfly of 2019. At Fiver Rivers when I was able to catch up with them there they were about in reasonable numbers but I still wasn’t convinced that they were catching up on the Small Tort – in fact they seemed to be down this year. They too showed the familiar pattern of the other Aristos in that the Hibernators put in a good showing but then the subsequent brood was far less numerous. As always they seemed to be the first to disappear and hibernate.

20 Comma, 21-03-2018 Work

I feel like I’m writing the same thing again and again when considering the Aristos but for the sake of completeness here goes… later in emerging, not in as high numbers as last year and then much harder to find come the autumn when you’re hoping for a few Aristos to maintain interest in the closing stages of the season. I’m wondering if the really cold snap in the spring followed by the almost unbearable heat have played a part in this pattern that I saw in the hibernators? Obviously the pattern gets broken though for the Comma as the H.Comma appears around July time giving us a nice fresh dose of Comma action. However this year I can’t recall seeing as many of these either. Hopefully this is more down to me just being in the wrong place or at the wrong time? The unusual thing that I can recall is that the Comma was my second butterfly in 2019 knocking the usual Number 1, the Small Tort, down to third!

The Fritillaries

I had a cracking year with the Fritillaries this year seeing all 8 of the British species…however this was only because I picked up the usual suspects in the UK and then took my holiday in the Dordogne where I was able to get the three trickier Frits…

21 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, 27-05-2018 Bentley Wood

Last year I saw this species twice at Bentley with a singleton and then a maximum count of 5. I said then that the Small Pearl seems to be dwindling and so it continues with only 5 seen on two occasions this year. To be fair I found my first a week later this year and it was the first record from Bentley so they may have taken slightly longer to get going but I’m still concerned for this species here. This coming season I need to tear myself away from the Eastern Clearing and check out the various paths and rides throughout the wood which will give me a fairer reflection of their status. I still feel it’s not looking good so I might need to start trying to find sites in the New Forest as a back-up.

22 Pearl-bordered Fritillary, 19-05-2018 Bentley Wood

A similar story with The Spring Fritillary as for other spring butterflies in that is was late by a good two weeks – progress slowed, emergence postponed by the Beast from the East. Even so this put it back in line with the first sighting dates from previous years coming in the first week of May and meant that the East/West time divide was slightly diminished. Unlike their smaller and swarthier cousins the Pearls seem to be not as badly number wise. Over the course of a couple of visits there were good showings of Pearls with at least 11, 8 and 6 recorded at this site. Hopefully the massive amount of clearing will be just in time to sustain this particular Frit as well as help its scarcer cousin. I kept my eye out for aberrants and melanics but only one individual seemed to have much heavier markings than usual. Also this year they seemed much more frenetic than I recall, bombing around all over the place as though on a mission, which I suppose they were; “gotta meet my Biological Imperative” was their mantra.

23 Dark Green Fritillary, 20-06-2018 Larkhill

The DGF was definitely not following the same rule book as the majority of the Frits in 2018. First up they were actually earlier than last year possibly due to onslaught of the heatwave arriving a whole 12 days earlier. They also cropped up in a massive range of sites; on the cliffs and beach at Lulworth Cove, the wastelands of Larkhill and my Duke site, the rolling Downs of Laverstock and Broughton and also in the lowland woods of Bentley. The only problem I had with this species this year was weather related. Again they lasted the distance and they were still going strong into August at Broughton. They were so solar charged in the heat that they rarely stopped for very long and even more rarely did they close up their wings allowing the much sought after under wing shots.

24 Silver-washed Fritillary, 01-07-2018 Bentley Wood

It felt like things had really caught up and got back onto schedule once the heatwave hit and for the Silver-washed this meant that I found them a day earlier this year compared to last. I seem to recall feeling that in 2017 they were doing okay but this year I don’t think that this is the case. I did see a straggler at Shipton at the tail end of their flight but after my first few at Bentley there were only a couple at Garston and a singleton at Broughton to add to the overall Tally. It was a disappointing year for me for this species. At Bentley the walk from the car park up to the Memorial for Whitters produced only a handful and I had to really work to get any shots whereas in previous years I didn’t have any worries on this score; if I missed out on one another would be encountered a short distance further on. A couple of weeks into their flight when I called in at Garston there were only a few individuals flying along the main track and they were all really worse for wear. Also this was the first year that I didn’t see a Valesina on my travels. So not a very good year – perhaps the heat struck at the wrong time for this species?

25 Marsh Fritillary, 19-05-2018 Marshie Site

Nine days later this year and unfortunately I didn’t find one at Larkhill – though I always had that one down as an outlier. Still it was a cracking year for the Marshie. Cotley was good but not as good as it has been in previous years though this is probably just down to the usual boom and bust cycle and a quieter year in 2018 could mean a busier one in 2019. They were in great numbers at Martin Down – the most I’ve ever seen here; I only walked from the main car park along the Dyke to about half way to the hollow where the Dyke transects the path from Sillen’s Lane but even so they were pretty much everywhere, littering the path and making the place look slightly untidy. However the real crème de la crème came from Bentley Wood were there were several flying on both the visits I made to the Eastern Clearing. No traipsing the length and breadth of the Wood or trying to follow narrow and winding roads to mysterious car parks deep in the impenetrable core of the wood; no ‘secret squirrels’ “none shall post” worries about the trip report write-up. No none of that as there they were, brazenly flying about around the boggier ground amid the tussocks and Purple Moor Grass. Brilliant! I’ve gone from desperately trying to find a site to see this species to being spoilt for choice!