With a plan to see and photo Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, me and Isabella teamed up with Wurzel and Kitty at Bentley Wood. The weather appears to have gone from one extreme to the other so the butterflies were plentiful but very flighty
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
. And although we were having a smashing time, Wurzel was grabbing all the best shots …. the butterflies just would not sit still for me
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
. Other factors such as a full sandisk card
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
didn’t help matters nor did the distraction of day-flying moths (I have been on two moth nights already and an extensive polka-dot pattern of bites and stings to prove it
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
ticks out too beware
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
)
Argent and Sable was a first for me
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![A 2012.05.26 P20048 Argent & Sable, Bentley Wood.jpg (167.56 KiB) Viewed 838 times Argent and Sable (female?)](./files/thumb_10062_a69ff4dab4324704be2a35f0e9a1e119)
- Argent and Sable (female?)
Butterflies seen were:- Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries (lots, the latter in flight reliably identified by their less faded appearance); Brimstone 6; 2; Orange-tip 2; Speckled Wood 4; Small Heath 12+; Peacock 1; Dingy Skipper 2 and Grizzled Skipper (no Green Hairstreaks for Wurzel). Only the Grizllies were obliging for their photos.
As the day progressed and we cooked in the sun, a drink of coffee from Wurzels survival flask was a relief
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
. Not so welcome was an attempted smash and grab of my mobile phone which was foolishly left on the back seat of my old Peugeot 106 at the Eastern Clearing car park. The lock of the front passenger door had been forced (screwdriver) and although they didn’t get in the door lock cannot be operated by the key anymore
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
So unexpected in such a seemingly remote and idyllic setting … it just goes to show you need to be on your guard all the time. A warning sticker in the window of another car in the park illustrates the problem.
By late afternoon I was hoping the temperature would cool, but it didn’t do so by much. Nevertheless a couple of reasonable upper wing shots nicely show the difference of these two related species.
![G 2012.05.26 IMG_3447 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.jpg (197.68 KiB) Viewed 838 times Small Pearl-bordered](./files/thumb_10062_dcb5b163b4ea872884b0ef05f79b0bb8)
- Small Pearl-bordered
![H 2012.05.26 P20121 Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Bentley Wood.jpg (176.47 KiB) Viewed 838 times Pearl-bordered](./files/thumb_10062_ee03379792769325f73e5a075e0216dd)
- Pearl-bordered
![I 2012.05.26 P20126 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Bentley Wood.jpg (222.45 KiB) Viewed 838 times Small Pearl-bordered](./files/thumb_10062_60c2d42d31da840300f35804f4cd5cbb)
- Small Pearl-bordered