Glad you like it, Michael! It was doing a good job.
My parents left this morning and were replaced with a UK Butterflies group. The weather has turned bad but they were treated to occasional sun and some excellent butterflies. Being the host, I held back and didn't take many photos, but I did get a few.
Here are Lisa (Gwenhwyfar) and Pete, finding rare
Maculinea species despite the gloom:
Both of our main targets for the day were flying. Here is a scarce large blue...
...and here is a dusky large blue:
My first manto ringlets of the year were flying:
(Male)
(Female)
Some other species were playing ball nicely. This lesser marbled fritillary landed upside down for classic diagnostic photos of the underside:
Here are two Niobe fritillaries. The first is very typical. The second is dark, like a female, and seems to have four sex brands, even though the species is supposed to have only two. But I saw the underside and there is no doubt about the ID of either:
Finally, the poor weather allowed lots of close-ups, including this diagnostic shot of the antennae of a small skipper:
In the morning we took in cranberry fritillaries - the others all have good photos of that - and there were plenty of other butterflies on the wing, including Arran brown, large ringlet, lesser mountain ringlet, Alpine heath, Titania's fritillary, lesser marbled fritillary, chequered skipper and more.
Tomorrow I will take them to a high site for exotic Alpine fritillaries and blues.
Guy
