Magic Map Link for the Green-winged Orchids
Wild Flora and Fauna on Chalk  flickr

24 July 2008
I visited Anchor Bottom where there were just the occasional Meadow Browns and a Peacock Butterfly and no Chalkhill Blues on the south-facing hill.

14 July 2008
The first confirmed Six-spotted Burnet Moths were spotted on Greater Knapweed on the south-facing Horseshoe Vetch slope of Anchor Bottom.
Dacre Gardens and the Ragwort-covered basin* of Anchor Bottom hosted frequent (20+) Meadow Browns, occasional (7 -10) Peacock Butterflies, a few Comma Butterflies, one Red Admiral and a few Small Tortoiseshells. (*The majority of the Ragwort was on the flat basin rather than the slopes.)
Adur Burnet Moths
Full Butterfly & Moth Report

23 June 2008
Native wild flowers recorded for the first time this year consisted of frequent Fragrant Orchids, which were nearly finished and a solitary Small Scabious, both species seen on Anchor Bottom, Upper Beeding. Restharrow was frequently seen.
 

At least 18 Meadow Brown Butterflies were seen amongst the long grass. Small Tortoiseshell Butteflies were seen by a large patch of Stinging Nettles in the middle of Anchor Bottom (3) and at the back of the houses by Dacre Gardens, Upper Beeding (2).
Full Butterfly Report

20 May 2008
Contrary to my previous observations I have now discovered an extensive area of Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa, on the north (south-facing) bank of Anchor Bottom. I originally mistook this area for one of Bulbous Buttercups because the intensity of the flowers and leaves is much less than the lower slopes of Mill Hill and comparable to the upper plateau on the latter down. (The density of leaves may be insufficient to support Chalkhill Blue Butterflies?)
In a stay of over 40 minutes I spotted 5 - 7 male Adonis Blue Butterflies, one large creamy-white female Brimstone Butterfly, and my first Brown Argus of the year in pristine condition. Just two of the Adonis Blues were seen on the Horseshoe Vetch patch as the others were seen on the dry valley bottom. On a north bank clump of long grass, five Yellow Shell Moths were spotted together. On the north bank the other flowers of note were Sainfoin (first of the year), Bulbous Buttercups, small amounts of Bird's Foot Trefoil, small patches of Milkworts, and an occasional Mouse-eared Hawkweed. They were visited by buzzing bumblebees and both Red-tailed Bumblebees, Bombus lapidarius, and Common Carder Bees, Bombus pascuorum, were foraging.
 

On the south (north-facing) bank at the western Dacre Gardens end, a few small patches of Horseshoe Vetch, the fading remnants of Green-winged Orchids and the even more exiguous remnants of Cowslip flowers were noted. No butterflies were spotted in this area.
Adur Butterflies: First Dates
Adur Butterfly List 2008
Adur Wild Flowers

26 April 2008
The first orchids of 2008 were frequent Green-winged Orchids pushing up from the southern side turf on Anchor Bottom. There was just one Small White Butterfly at Anchor Bottom flying up from the Dacre Gardens.
Adur Butterfly List 2008

20 April 2008
Anchor Bottom (at the western Dacre Garden end) was devoid of all butterflies.

15 November 2007
Very few wild flowers showed on south slopes of Anchor Bottom (Dacre Garden entrance), there was a Hardhead (=Lesser Knapweed) and a few Yarrow, Hawkweeds, Ragworts and Lesser Centaury. Two small white mushrooms were seen amongst the grasses and sedges. I think these may be young versions of the Pale Wax Cap, Hygrocybe pratensis var pallida.

4 September 2007
On an acre trek over Anchor Bottom, Upper Beeding, I recorded 42 Meadow Browns on the southern slopes, but no other butterflies were seen.

26 August 2007
A half an hour trek on the southern (north-facing) slopes of Anchor Bottom (Dacre Garden entrance), Upper Beeding, produced 52 Meadow Brown Butterflies, two male Adonis Blues, one male Common Blue and a Small Heath Butterfly at the top on the southern boundary. Amongst the long grass and herbs still dominated by Small Scabious, I stumbled over the first Autumn Lady's Tresses of 2007, and there were half a dozen of these small easily overlooked orchids in a small area and were probably only a small proportion of a much larger number in the same general area the other orchids were found. Occasional Harebells were noticed amongst the long grass.
Adur Orchids
 

10 August 2007
 

On Anchor Bottom, Upper Beeding (Dacre Garden entrance) a mating pair of Chalkhill Blue Butterflies were seen immediately and there were at least a dozen more Meadow Brown Butterflies and about the same number of  6-spot Burnet Moths were seen in about 30 minutes. There were probably a few Small Heath Butterflies but only one was definitely recorded. A Painted Lady Butterfly flew eastwards and eventually up the slope.
The southern (north-facing) slopes were covered in abundant Small Scabious, and very common Stemless Thistle, Rough Hawkbit, Hardheads and Burnet Saxifrage (umbellifer to be double-checked), with the occasional clump of Bird's Foot Trefoil, and I noted Autumn Gentian, Restharrow and Lesser Centaury. The northern (south-facing) slopes were not visited, but it looked as though these were dominated by Ragwort.

22 July 2007
On Anchor Bottom, Upper Beeding (Dacre Garden entrance) there were at least a dozen more Meadow Brown Butterflies and over twenty 6-spot Burnet Moths. A Dor Beetle crawled amongst the long grass.
Adur Burnet Moths
Adur Beetles
I made a brief herb list amongst the long grasses, and in order of prominence it was as follows: Small Scabious, Ragwort, Stemless Thistle, Ox-eye Daisies, Lady's Bedstraw, Rough Hawkbits, Thyme, Red Clover, White Clover, Self-heal, Bird's Foot Trefoil, Yellow Wort, Lesser Centaury, Black Medick, Yarrow, Kidney Vetch, Wild Carrot and others overlooked. There were exiguous numbers of Pyramidal Orchids, Hoary Plantains and Restharrow.
A Wheatear was seen in the distance, up by the fence on the southern boundary.

12 June 2007
In the breezy (Force 5) warm (>21.9 ºC) sunshine, butterflies were blown about considerably. A detour to Anchor Bottom recorded a surprise Small Blue Butterfly, two Small Heath Butterflies and about ten Meadow Browns.
In an area (measured at 3 acres) on the south (north-facing) bank 48 Fragrant Orchids were seen in approximately the same area that the Green-winged Orchids are found earlier in the year. This area contains evidence of cattle use.
A look at the flora did not show anything remarkable, although the grass was thicker and longer than the lower slopes of Mill Hill. I did find small patches of Thyme and Kidney Vetch and my diligence was eventually rewarded with the discovery of a small area of Horseshoe Vetch with 40 or so flowers.
Adur Orchids

8 June 2007
Anchor Bottom was rather bare of movement, but after about 15 minutes in the afternoon, I spotted a Large White Butterfly flying strongly, immediately followed by at least two Small Heath Butterflies and later by two Meadow Browns.
Overall, the yellow in the pasture was mostly Meadow Buttercups, but also very frequent Hawkbits and I spotted a few Mouse-eared Hawkweed flowers.
Two Fragrant Orchids were seen in flower for the first time this year on Anchor Bottom. This species is infrequent locally and the large expanse of Anchor Bottom and nearby fields are it only known location covering well over a hundred acres. They are recorded only occasionally and finding two in the shelter of a large Hawthorn was exceptional.
I was surprised to spot one clump* of the tiny Fairy Flax, occasional Milkworts, a few Hoary Plantain, Plantago media, one Small Scabious in flower, Yellow Wort (no sign of the flower) stalks, Common and Ox-eye Daisies a few flowering grasses and nothing else of note. I did not even notice the common Wild Thyme that I usually see (I must have overlooked this) but there was absolutely no sign of Bird's Foot Trefoil or Horseshoe Vetch.
(* cf. the lower slopes of Mill Hill would have hundreds of these plants.)

15 May 2007
We saw about six Adonis Blues in the afternoon in Anchor Bottom between Shoreham and Upper Beeding.

29 April 2007
There must have been at least a hundred Green-winged Orchids in the acre on the southern side at the Dacre Gardens western entrance. I saw one pale almost white flower. But there was nothing else: not a single butterfly to be seen and no trace of Horseshoe Vetch.  A few Cowslips were in flower.
Butterfly Report

23 April 2007
Milkwort was recorded from Anchor Bottom for the first time. It was probably overlooked before. At least some of the Green-winged Orchids were now large enough to photograph succcessfully. Violets were also seen in flower. There was one darkish butterfly seen. This was probably a Peacock Butterfly, but could have been a Red Admiral.

Photograph of a Green-winged Orchid (by Ray Hamblett) on Wild Flora and Fauna on Chalk  flickr

20 April 2007
On an almost barren hillside, apart from the rough grasses, wet and dry cow pats, very frequent Dandelions, occasional Field Speedwell the first Green-winged Orchids of the year were pushing up from the southern side turf on Anchor Bottom.
Adur Orchids
 

4 September 2006
A twelve minutes or so wander around the Dacre Gardens end of Anchor Bottom added 14 Adonis Blues, half attracted to the cow pats and four were females (one of the females was faded and could have been a Chalkhill Blue). There were two Common Blues and just one Meadow Brown and one Small Heath seen amongst the wiry grasses and cowpats of Anchor Bottom.
Butterfly Report

21 August 2006
Anchor Bottom (Dacre Gardens entrance) was a surprise; David Sadler had said there were Adonis Blue Butterflies but I was sceptical. 24 fresh male Adonis Blue Butterflies were counted in a twenty minute circular walk, five of them on one moist cow pat near the swing gate and another five around some other pats. There were about eight Common Blue Butterflies and two Small Heath Butterflies as well. Separating the blues was difficult, but most were Adonis. There were a few Meadow Brown Butterflies on the rough parched grassland with Scabious and Stemless Thistle.
Butterfly Report

2 August 2006
A brief eight minute visit to the pastures at the foot of Anchor Bottom up the south side of hill by the Dacre Gardens entrance, saw me avoiding the cow pats and wading through hundreds of Scabious and Stemless Thistle, even more than a week before.
 

Under the cloudy sky, I disturbed scores of Common Blue Butterflies of both sexes, an unconfirmed Brown Argus, one aggressive Chalkhill Blue, frequent Meadow Browns and occasional Small Whites with a handful of Red Admirals and a Painted Lady. The overcast conditions meant that all the blue butterflies were resting. Silver Y Moths were frequently seen.

24 July 2006
I made a 15 minute detour over these undergrazed pastures at the foot of Anchor Bottom up the south side of hill by the Dacre Gardens entrance. It is interesting to note that the management of this pasture creates a different flora and fauna to all the other downs (e.g. Mill Hill, Lancing Ring meadows and Southwick Hill). I noted that both the amount of Scabious and Wild Thyme exceeded all the other areas, Ragwort was abundant (like the grazed Erringham Hill this year), Stemless Thistle was comparable to Mill Hill, Hardheads (=Lesser Knapweed) was greater than Mill Hill but less than Lancing Ring meadows, Kidney Vetch was greater than the Slonk Hill Cutting and the range of plants was not quite as great as Mill Hill or Lancing Ring meadows (e.g. Greater Knapweed was one of many plants not seen). Yarrow, Yellow Wort, Salad Burnet and Bird's Foot Trefoil were noted.
 

Silver Y Moths were everywhere, at least four a minute giving a total seen of about sixty, and Meadow Brown Butterflies (40+) edged out Common Blues (30+) in prevalancy with two Chalkhill Blues and a Gatekeeper near the gate.
Butterfly Report

10 May 2006
Over a hundred Green-winged Orchids were scattered in isolation over the southern (north-facing) slopes of Anchor Bottom (north of the Cement Works). It was difficult to ascertain their numbers because the extent of their spread was not ascertained. There seemed to be several hundred. All were purple and no white ones were discovered.

Green-winged Orchid with Cow Pat Cattle Grazing has occurred on Anchor Bottom since 1971 and has resulted in a change of flora and fauna.

Green-winged Orchids in-situ

These were the only plants of interest, although there were a handful of Cowslips. A small hoverfly was recorded on a Dandelion.
Adur Orchids

8 -13 May 2005
Hundreds of Green-winged Orchids are flowering at Anchor Bottom, near Upper Beeding, on the eastern bank. There were not as many as in previous years. When the orchids are over there is not a trace of them to see, no stalk or leaves.
 

24 April 2005
During a brief spell of weak sunshine, a Brimstone Butterfly, one Peacock and one Holly Blue were seen at the back of Dacre Gardens at the foot of Anchor Bottom, and a probable Small White and probable Large White Butterfly at the top on the north side. There were cow pats on the steep 45° slopes on the northern face. The pasture was mostly grass and lacked flora or fungi of interest.
Adur Butterfly List 2005
 

8 September 2004
Anchor Bottom, (Dacre Gardens entrance) looked different with shorter grass, but there were fresh cow pats and after a ten minute climb, nothing of interest was seen and only two butterflies, one Small Heath by the gate and a Meadow Brown further up the hill amongst the Hawthorn bushes dotted all over the slope.

In the photograph on the right the Hawthorn bushes can be seen growing all over the slope. This problem occurred on Mill Hill and caused a serious deterioration of the Chalkhill Blue Butterfly habitat.

2 August 2004
I visited Anchor Bottom, (Dacre Gardens entrance), near Upper Beeding, for a comparative look at the lower part of this downland, which in historical times, before the "improvement" and cattle gazing, had a reputation for butterflies. Dodging the cow pats in the long coarse grasses, I observed just a dozen butterflies of four species, including one smaller than usual Chalkhill Blue. There was one Common Blue Butterfly, one Small Heath Butterfly and a handful of Meadow Browns.There was also a faded 6-spot Burnet Moth, which disconcertingly had the sixth spot so faded that it could only just be discerned. I walked all the way to the top on the southern side.

21 July 2004
Cows (attended by a farmer in a motor vehicle) were grazing on the upper slopes of the field that includes Anchor Bottom and there seemed to be wet cow pats near the Dacre Gardens entrance at Upper Beeding, where two Marbled White Butterflies were seen. Scabious was commonly growing on the slopes. I am not clear about identifying the Field Scabious and Small Scabious, but these ones had rudimentary leaves like the few on the lower slopes of Mill Hill. Dwarf (=Stemless) Thistle was also showing, but much of the grass was long and coarse.

29 June 2004
Access to Anchor Bottom is possible from the north end of Dacre Gardens at Upper Beeding. This is the famous area for the Green-winged Orchids, but they were no longer in flower. This orchid is still present in thousands (by reports).
 

It is an undergrazed cow pasture with long grasses, clovers, but also Pyramidal Orchids, Yellow Wort, Restharrow, Selfheal, and other calicoles.
 
 

Small Heath Butterflies are found here and there were at least 15, slightly more than the number of Meadow Browns, with a few Small Tortoiseshells and at least one Common Blue Butterfly.
Adur Butterfly List 2004