Seventeen volunteers in four teams endured heat of nearly 100 degrees to scour the tip of the Eastern Shore counting butterflies on Sunday, July 27, for the Delmarva Tip Butterfly Count in Northampton County. This was the 27th year for the count, in which 693 people identified 31. Volunteers reported extreme dry conditions and few flowering nectar sources. The all-time high species count is 47, and last year’s was 37. Highest counts were 146 Silver-spotted Skippers, 75 Black Swallowtails, 71 Red-spotted Purples and 51 Spicebush Swallowtails. Middle Peninsula Master Naturalists taking part included, from left, Edward Brown (King William County), Susan Crockett (Gloucester County), Grace Hanners (Mathews County) and Edith Bradbury (Gloucester County). Adrienne Frank of Williamsburg was the compiler.
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