Thanks, Trevor - there was a fair bit of grovelling on the ground to get those BA shots, but the butterfly was undisturbable so great was the concentration on the task in hand.
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Cheers, Andrew - I have some more attractive female Common Blues to come from yesterday, once I get through all the photos... Yes, brand new Large Skippers are a very attractive butterfly, truly golden underneath. Given some hot sunshine and they are unbelieveably quick through the air as well!
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Friday 1st June: the prospect of horrendous traffic on the M25 kept me local again today, and I popped over to Bedfont Lakes CP again. I only found a handful of Common Blues today, one of which was a standard largely brown female. There were a couple each of Small Heath, Brown Argus and Speckled Wood... ...and the obligatory egg-laying female Holly Blue. One sunny bit of path was the territory of the only Large Skipper I saw on the visit. Later on, I paid a short visit to my local patch. I turned up another couple of Orange Tip caterpillars, and it was only when I looked at the photos later that noticed something puzzling. The first one appeared green on top and white underneath, but the second one seemed to be white on top and green underneath. A couple of Small Heaths posed nicely, and the second of the two had (in common with others posted on the forum) a very clear series of white/silver ocelli on the under hindwing. Finally, just before reaching home, I spotted a flash of orange in the grass - a rather battered Small Copper in the area where I had seen the last few in 2017. I still don't know the location of the sorrel where this colony must be based. Dave