Sod's law strikes again, Mark. Silver washed fritillaries also seen today in the woods around Walton Common (ST428738). Far too lively to get any decent shots though. There are supposed to be dark green fritillaries on the common itself but I didn't see a single one. However, it's a nice common to v...

I didn't know they were that scarce up there, Dave. I notice yours like knapweed too. Nice pic BTW.

I like the skipper too. It's unusual to be able to get right down to eye level like that.

The tips of the antennae look black to me. Even the white bits are black.

OK I know they're not particularly rare, but it seems to be a good year for them this year and they are pretty insects.
Here's one I took today feeding off (I think) black knapweed.
Canon S3+500D.

I want one. Could you post it?

Sheesh, those poor butterflies have had a hard life! Guessing at no 2 to be a green underside blue. This butterfly isn't found in the UK, but looking at my field guide, the brown border inside the white fringe suggests that to me.
No 4 might be a very worn chalkhill blue.

Their location is probably your best bet then. If it's seen in woodland the it'll more likely be a high brown.

My local patch has large and small skippers. I have positively identified a single male essex there, although not got a shot of one yet as it flew away after I identified it but before I could get a picture of it. Having identified at least one male there's a good chance others are there. However, t...

Did it have black-in-orange eyespots on the lower wings, and white markings across all wings? If so it could have been a purple emperor. If not I can only suggest it was a foreign vagrant or release.

My field guide by Wilkinson & Tweedie says of the dark green: Very like the high brown but the silver spots on the hindwing underside are not surrounded with reddish brown and the basal half of the wing is dull green. The butterfly (dark green) inhabits more open country (high brown is a woodlan...

Very nice. Look forward to the sequels.

Dammit, I got logged out.
The previous post was me.
Anyway, I also got a mating pair, just...

The essex is similar in size to the small. Further idents I think are: When at rest, skippers often tuck the forewing back so the rear wing is in front. There's a thick black/dark brown leading edge to this rear wing on the small, and this leading edge is diffuse/broken on the essex. This shows up q...

Hi Mark, I live in your neck of the woods. Can you tell me where you got the SWF? If they're that easy to photograph I'd like to try too.

Will do. It's cropped a bit but there's still a few spare pixels.

Summer commas are everywhere in my local patch now. Here's one I snapped this afternoon, near Siston Brook, Warmley with my new Canon S3. Hope you like.

I think the latter sighting might be a ruby tiger moth.
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=34

It's next to Hazelbury Manor. There's parking by the Chapel Plaister a short walk away. The common is nice for orchids too.

I snapped this today at Hazelbury Common near Box. I'm pretty certain it's an adonis blue.