Great Train Journey East & West 2013

The two train journeys were both held this year is reasonable weather, the East one was very hot, on one of the hottest days of the year. A Red Admiral was seen on a fence post, on the walk up to Brockham Lime Works.

The normal grassland butterflies were seen on the grassland patch around the tower.

Silver-Washed Fritillaries were seen in the small meadow, on the climb upto the quarry.

Plenty of Dark Green Fritillaries were flying around the quarry.

The long climb upto Box Hill gave us more sightings of Dark Green Fritillary, but the Silver-Spotted Skippers were yet to emerge.

The West Journey was a few weeks later, which was an advantage this year. Plenty of Whites were found on the track upto Hackhurst Downs.

Chalkhill Blue and Silver-Washed Fritillary were the star species at Hackhurst. At the Buddleia at the top of the downs, 5 Silver-Washed Fritillaries were feeding, a White Admiral shot past, landed on a thistle for a few seconds, then flew off.

A Holly Blue was resting in a Birch tree. A walk onto the grassland provided sightings of Silver-Spotted Skipper egglaying. 

The drop down the famous hillside that was in EB Fords Butterflies, to the bottom trackway. 3 Clouded Yellows were flying around a recent cleared area. Several people on the walk hadnt seen one this year, so were chasing them up the hillside to get a better view.

A Dark Green Fritillary was in the same area as the Clouded Yellows, we them walked along the bottom track below Denbies Hillside to Dorking. Plenty of Chalkhill Blues along the way. More on Denbies tomorrow, as there is another walk there.