The weather was prefect for a visit to see butterflies in this very special part of rural Warnham in West Sussex. Nine members of HHSoc visited at the invitation of David Bridges who had primed us at an earlier evening talk so we were ready to spot and identify butterflies. During our visit we saw, large and small white , painted lady, a dingy skipper and possibly brown hairstreak and grizzled skipper as well as moths, a cockchafer and a couple of slow worms. The butterfly fields are private land that has been allowed to return to nature and for the last 12 years the three fields have developed into scrubland with patches of self seeded trees and meadow providing a super habitat for nature to thrive. The stars of the morning for me were the birds who were singing their socks off! Whitethroats, warblers, chaff chaffs and many more followed us wherever we went.
Although the fields are privately owned there are many paths crisscrossing the area and public access is allowed. Later in the year there are many more butterflies out and about so if you had a spare couple of hours and want to chill out surrounded by nature only a couple of miles from the bustling town of Horsham you could do a lot worse than searching out Tilletts Fields.
Many thanks to David Bridges for his guided tour, his knowledge and passion for nature was real treat to experience.
