Rather than waste the morning, I decided to go up first thing and visit a spot I've never been to before - Fermyn Woods. There was no one there - this seemed odd having heard tales of bulging car parks... It was mostly cloudy, but reasonably warm, and the first thing that struck me were the clouds of Ringlets that erupted from the verges of the path at every step. For all their numbers, they were nearly impossible to photograph, unless distracted by other imperatives. I wandered through the woods (once again putting up a Purple Hairstreak from the grass by the path) and down to Lady Wood as well, but encountered only one Purple Emperor: one circled me a few times as I was investigating a stand of bramble and came close to settling on me, but peeled off to chase something else and disappeared. Also in numbers alongside the Ringlets were Large Skippers, Meadow Browns, Small Tortoiseshells and Silver-washed Fritillaries. The SWF were on the brambles, three or four males at a time - I only saw a single female. There were also Commas and both Small and Green-veined Whites, plus Small Skippers. Of note was an example of a "washed-out" Meadow Brown. This seems to be quite a frequent congenital aberration and never seems to affect both wings equally. . Finally, moth of the day was this one - all ID ideas gratefully received.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Dave