Chalkhills Emerge

Today I helped out on the weekly butterfly survey at Beddingham. This site has been a landfill since 1975 and, since the landfill closed in 2010, it is being restored to chalk grassland. It'll take time for the site to return to its full potential but on the edges their is plenty of wildlife waiting to move in. On today's survey dark green fritillaries were seen but I was particularly excited to see my first chalkhill blue of the year. These butterflies are one of the last species to emerge and will spend a few weeks in late summer meeting, mating and egg-laying on horseshoe vetch.