The Butterflies of Billingshurst

LewesWildlife
, 06 August 2021
The Butterflies of Billingshurst
Purple Hairstreak / Bob Eade

By Chloe Harrison

Community Support Officer, Wilder Horsham District

With an unseasonably wet and cold spring, the emergence of our UK butterflies this year was delayed. But a few weeks ago, when  the warmer, sunnier weather has finally arrived, we hastily organised a walk with local nature and environment group Billigreen to see what butterflies Billingshurst has to show off. It turns out – there’s plenty to shout about!

Looking for purple hairstreak

Watching Purple Hairstreaks on the 'Purple Emperor Walkway' 

Just as the sun came out, we arrived at our first stop on the tour – the newly crowned ‘purple emperor walkway’. The walkway winds up and around through an understory of brambles opening up in front of a large, mature oak, as if it was a purpose-built butterfly viewpoint. Our necks certainly appreciated not having to look up and strain as much as from ground-level. While we did not see any purple emperors this time around, they had been recorded in this place before, and were very likely watching us from their invisible perch in the oak above. An uncommon sight restricted to just southern and central England, it is a wonderful species to have recorded in Billingshurst. We did however spot the purple hairstreak by its jittery flight and silvery underwings, which every oak tree can boast. They lay their eggs on the tree, and come early evening countless individuals will light up the sky around their oak in flight.

Catching skippers 

On we walked to a field of meadow grass and wildflowers, the grass providing the perfect food plant for caterpillars. Here we spotted many a meadow brown, the bread-and-butter-butterfly of meadows, and the not-too dissimilar gatekeeper. Originally thought to be the same species, we also caught the two near identical skipper butterflies that can only be distinguished by looking at the colour of underneath of their antennae. The small skipper under-antennae is orange, the Essex skipper’s black.

Small and Essex Skippers

But it was the brilliant edge habitat of blackthorn between the meadow and trees that held our attention most, as it was the perfect habitat to see a brown hairstreak. As a UK BAP priority species only found locally distributed in southern Britain, Billingshurst falls right in the middle of its last strongholds and so should be one of the best places to see them. Laying their white eggs of blackthorn shoots, it is wonderful to watch them tasting the leaves with their feet and displaying their orange underside markings.

Perfect blackthorn habitat for brown hairstreak

Perfect Brown Hairstreak habitat in Billingshurst

BH

...and a perfect Brown Hairstreak (photo by Bob Eade) 

Our last stop on the walk was a visit to the newly crowned ‘White letter hairstreak lane’, where a bunch of mature elms sitting just along the roadside provide the perfect opportunity to spot the increasingly rare white letter hairstreak butterfly. Relying on elms as their foodplant, the devastation of elms by Dutch Elm disease has seen them in decline since the 1970s, but they are hanging on in places such as Billingshurst where their habitat remains.

Looking for white letter hairstreak

Looking up for White-letter Hairstreaks

Even without their rare status in the mix, they can be a tricky spot. Combine their small size and preference to fly around the very tops of trees, they are difficult to see unless they fly, and even then can easily look like a bee in flight. We were not lucky enough to spot them this time round, but a visit to the same spot just two weeks before had proved successful. If you have a pair of binoculars on you, scan for a shark-fin like wing shape with orange edges and a white streak when it lands. But your best bet for an ID is to keep a look out for its erratic, spiralling flight typical of hairstreaks.

WLH

Thank you to Billigreen for having us. With several nationally scarce or isolated species finding their home and preferred habitat in Billinghurst, it is an exciting home for many butterflies and a great place to spot the likes of the purple emperor, brown hairstreak and white-letter hairstreak. 

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783068790.99840 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1783068791.02660.0282Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783068791.02670.0001Server address: 216.73.216.31
1783068791.02670Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783068791.02670Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/the-butterflies-of-billingshurst
    [s] => the-butterflies-of-billingshurst
    [1] => the-butterflies-of-billingshurst
)
1783068791.0270.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783068791.0280.001 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783068791.02950.0016 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22559375
1783068791.03020.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22559375
1783068791.03070.0005 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-03 08:53:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-03 08:53:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783068791.03170.001 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='the-butterflies-of-billingshurst')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-03 08:53:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783068791.03440.0027 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783068791.03490.0004 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=2592 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-03 08:53:00'
1783068791.03560.0007 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783068791.03620.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783068791.03690.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=222 LIMIT 1
1783068791.03750.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783068791.03770.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783068791.03860.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-03 08:53:00' AND postSlug='the-butterflies-of-billingshurst'
1783068791.06120.0226Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783068791.06160.0005 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783068791.06310.0014Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783068791.06330.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783068791.06420.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783068791.06530.001 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783068791.0680.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783068791.06860.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783068791.07080.0021Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783068791.07080 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783068791.07160.0008 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783068791.07210.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783068791.07470.0026 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783068791.07570.001 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783068791.07640.0007 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783068791.07850.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783068791.07920.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783068791.08120.002 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783068791.08150.0004Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783068791.08180.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='3' LIMIT 1
1783068791.08240.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783068791.08280.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='the-butterflies-of-billingshurst')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-03 08:53:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783068791.08480.002 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783068791.08530.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783068791.08760.0023Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783068791.08850.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=2592 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783068791.13760.0492 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783068791.13780.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783068791.1380.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='3' LIMIT 1
1783068791.13890.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783068791.13960.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783068791.14020.0005 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783068791.14230.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783068791.14280.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783068791.14480.002 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783068791.14560.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783068791.14610.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783068791.14660.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783068791.14890.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783068791.14930.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783068791.15140.0021 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783068791.15440.003 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783068791.15510.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783068791.15560.0005 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783068791.1580.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783068791.15850.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783068791.16580.0073 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783068791.16770.002 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783068791.16850.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783068791.16910.0006 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783068791.17130.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783068791.17180.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783068791.17380.002 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783068791.17480.001Request time: 0.1776
1783068791.17480Process time: 0.1775
1783068791.17490Memory: 1.6506