Location: Tice’s Meadow Nature Reserve
Activity: Butterfly transect survey – completed independently
Species Encountered: Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus), Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus), Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Small White (Pieris rapae), Large White (Pieris brassicae) and Green-veined White (Pieris napi)

On 5 September, I completed the butterfly transect at Tice’s Meadow on my own for the first time. I felt really chuffed, and also quite honoured, that I had been trusted to carry out the survey independently. After joining the surveys throughout the season, it was a great opportunity to put what I had learnt into practice and take responsibility for completing the count myself.

As expected for this late in the season, butterfly numbers and diversity were beginning to decline, but there was still a good selection recorded across the transect. In total I counted 35 butterflies, with Small White being the most numerous at nine individuals. It was particularly nice to record seven Clouded Yellows, alongside six Speckled Woods. Holly Blue, Common Blue and Meadow Brown were each represented by a single individual.

Four white butterflies could not be confidently identified to species, so I recorded these as unidentified whites rather than making an uncertain identification. This was a useful reminder that accurate recording is more important than trying to assign every observation to a species.

Completing the survey independently felt like a really positive milestone for me. Although the butterfly season is now coming towards an end, I was pleased to have the opportunity to document one of the final surveys myself and contribute another set of records to the season’s monitoring.

Photographs