7 July
In the past we always seemed to have missed seeing Chalvington Field with the variety of flowers and insects we saw today. It was the prettiest we have ever seen it with Wild Carrot, Scabious, Ladies Bedstraw and Musk Mallow. Earlier we saw no more than one bumble at a time even though the Great Knapweed was open and in previous years we missed the peak flowering. This margin was planted in 2015 as a community event with Trees for Seaford and the District Council.
Today there were Soldier beetles on thistles, green Thigh beetles, Meadow browns, Gatekeepers, Skippers, Small Whites, and a Painted Lady on Gt Knapweed in the centre of the photo. You could hear grasshopper chirps and we spotted a cricket (possibly Roesel’s Bush cricket) hopping on the path on the sunny side of the Pines. It looked fat with a dark area, seen from standing up.
On the Normansal Close side there is a good spread of Ladies Bedstraw opposite North Close. In the centre of both fields there were one or two Meadow Browns flying at ground level.
19 July
Return visit yesterday, Wednesday lunchtime, to Chalvington Field. What a difference.
It was very breezy but we took a chance that the sun was hot enough on the sheltered side of the trees. As we came through the Pines the Small Whites were flitting in every direction over the whole thistle patch, accompanied by a few restless Blues with orange eyes on the underside. It was our first sighting of abundance of anything this year and a greater crowd than we see most years anywhere. How can you possibly count them like this? Probably 2 dozen as they were so crowded but the floating thistle down and the glare of the sun didn’t help.
There were more whites exploring the other flowery boundaries but only 2 or 3 at a time. All the butterflies of all species in this east facing margin were staying put, intent on feeding. Even the Painted Lady appeared to be on the same low Greater Knapweed as it was on 7th July!
The Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns were just as impossible for us to count. Everywhere was flickering and they were lower, camouflaged in the grass.
There is a tall clump of Betony by the Ladies Bedstraw which I have never seen before, ever, anywhere.
There was also a Red Admiral , a scattering of Common Blues, a Peacock and a black and red Burnet moth on Scabious.
This is a great place to recommend to a beginner at watching insects. It is pretty as the flowers are denser than a meadow. The Scabious, Mallow, Gt Knapweed and Geranium are familiar to gardeners. They are large and tall enough to look at and would not change the way we enjoy our flower borders and manage them. The denser planting means the butterflies and other insects are easier to watch in one place without having to chase them! No gardener could describe them as ‘weedy’.
We have come a very long way from 40yrs ago when Beth Chatto’s naturalistic and ecologically realistic displays at the RHS flower shows were considered to be ‘weeds’. Now even the much imitated Sissinghurst garden is challenging its visitors by including Cow Parsley in one of the gardens and unnecessary lawn is being managed as meadow.
Melene
You can see the video of the white butterflies by clicking below!
