The Lyons Share

Filming Adonis Blues with the BBC at Malling Down

Posted by Graeme Lyons , Thursday, 20 May 2010 20:13

I have spent an excellent day with the BBC's Natural History Unit filming Adonis Blues at the Sussex Wildlife Trust reserve Malling Down. It did not take very long to find the butterflies today, there were at least 30 there. The female photographed may actually be on the TV in a few weeks. The documentary is a 4 minute feature on some funding the Trust had from the BBC to manage chalk-grassland for Adonis Blues and other species. It will appear on The One Show on the 1st June. We also saw Dingy Skipper, Small Heath, Large White and Brimstone as well as Crambus lathoniellus, Pyrausta nigrata and Blue Shield Bug. The strangest part of the day was catching a butterfly in a net with my left hand as I fell down a 30 degree slope, sliding backwards over a patch of Dwarf Thistles, the whole time being on the phone and the caller never even new! Tomorrow Mike Dilger is coming down and we are going to be in front of the camera. I have always wanted to do natural history presenting so this is a great opportunity!

Posted in BBC, butterflies, chalk-grassland, Malling Down

3 Response to "Filming Adonis Blues with the BBC at Malling Down"

Unknown Says:

It's great to hear that funding from all over is going towards the management of chalk-grasslands. Blue butterflies are so intriguing with their complex ecology, The One Show is a good place to spark peoples interest.

Good luck with the natural history presenting!

20 May 2010 at 21:05

Graeme Lyons Says:

Thanks! You can see some of the work Sussex Wildlife Trust has done in the photo above. By removing the secondary woodland that has grown up in recent years, more light can now get on to the southern slopes meaning more Adonis Blues!

20 May 2010 at 22:02

Mark Schofield Says:

Great work on Malling Down! Good to hear you are nipping that encroaching scrub in the bud. Raising awareness for lowland limestone grassland is in full swing up here in Lincs. We have over 200 volunteers surveying as much as possible of some 4000km of road verge over 2 years as part of Life on the Verge (www.lifeontheverge.org.uk). We are trying to put a Living Landscape of climate corridors in place that today's downland species will hopefully be able to make use of in warmer decades to come.

The Dingies are doing just fine up here on the Grimsthorpe Estate near Bourne and this year was a good one for Pasqueflower.

Hope you've had fun on camera today and best of luck with the project!

21 May 2010 at 16:00