Many thanks to all of you - it was one of those mornings when everything fell into place (and worth the early start!).
The one thing all the butterflies had in common was the urge to nectar on bramble flowers (much like their close relative, the White-letter Hairstreak). It seems they do this first thing in the morning and then towards the end of the afternoon, and once stuck into a flower they can be there for a while. Though I didn't need to stray too far from the "hotspot", on other occasions, I've wandered further afield here, and seen the butterfly quite widely in ones and twos above the blackthorn bushes which are widespread. They appear to be well-established.
Saturday 8th June was therefore a bit of an anticlimax, back on my local patch again. Temperatures scraped 20 degrees and there was a bit of sunshine, and I managed to find over 70 butterflies with 10 species putting in an appearance.
Meadow Brown 28
Common Blue 19
Brown Argus 7
Holly Blue 6
Red Admiral 3
Small Heath 3
Small White 2
Peacock 1
Comma 1
Speckled Wood 1
As the figures above show, the numerical domination of the summer by Meadow Browns had begun...
It had been three weeks since my previous Comma sighting, and if they were all hiding like this one, I'm not surprised...
There haven't been many Specklies around lately either...
...and the Peacock was a bit of a surprise too.
Naturally, there were Holly Blues and Red Admirals, the two most-frequently seen species here this year so far.
However, with quite a few to choose from, the Common Blues provided some nice examples...
...as did the Brown Argus.
In the end, though, it was one individual butterfly that was the highlight of the day - a humble Small Heath. Wurzel recently posted shots of a similar butterfly (though that was an individual far more extreme than this one), but it was strikingly different. It was very pale, washed out in appearance, and its eyespot was almost non-existent.
It turned out to be an interesting day in the end!
Dave