Transect walks on the 2nd and 7th resulted in indifferent totals of 50 and 53, respectively, though 6 Painted Ladies on the 7th were a welcome reminder of last year’s outstanding influx. Numbers remained subdued and the transect walk on the 13th produced only 41 butterflies, although they did include the first Large Skipper of the summer (photo, on right, by Ian Hodgson) and a further influx of 4 Painted Ladies. 4 Large Skippers were evident on the 15th, along with 7 Holly Blues, 11 Speckled Woods and 8 Red Admirals and on the 17th Meadow Brown and both Small Skipper and Essex Skipper were seen for the first time this year. There were also 9 Large Skippers in the Whitehouse - recently a scarce species at the Bay it has now appeared in good numbers for two successive years.

Despite warm, sunny weather, transect walks on the 23rd and 24th showed little improvement apart from the first Marbled White of the year on the 23rd and the first half of the transect season ended as the poorest in the last four years.