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![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Sunday 19th April. More sunshine, and reasonably warm again as well. The most curious thing about today's sightings was that I ony saw one Peacock - surely that bit of rain can't have finished them off. Orange Tips (19) and Holly Blues (an amazing 31 counted) comprised the vast majority of what was flying on my local patch today. There were two more Red Admirals - one spotted flying strongly north, and the other marking out a territory in the same place as the one seen on 18th. In fact, it was actually sitting on precisely the same perch as the one I saw back on 15th. Definitely a different butterfly to all those previously seen. This is behaviour I have noted before - certain sheltered nooks are frequented by a series of Red Admirals. Problems arise when numbers build and two or more try to occupy the same space. And then the Speckled Woods get involved...
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In amongst the many Holly Blues flying, I actually found a mating pair here for the first time (remarkable it's taken so long really). They weren't very accessible and I only found them because of the repeated visits from other male butterflies. There were plenty of other HB photo opportunities of course. A selection of some of the rest on show: Altogether, around seventy butterflies of ten species seen.
Dave