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Great shots, Trevor, first a Green Hairstreak on a Bluebell and now a Pearl Lovely open wing shots of the Holly Blues, they never do that for me
It's always nice to hear your first Cuckoo of the spring too.

Mike

PBFs already!! Trevor, you are upping the ante somewhat here.

I wasn't preparing myself for this species till the middle of next week at least!!!

That is a mighty fine find Trevor At which site were those PBFs? If it was one in the South East then I need to get over to Bentley for the first ones there in about a fortnight

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Firstly, many thanks everyone for your comments, smilies and mrgreens.

This morning I decided to spend another day with the Pearls. I had only been on site for a short while,
when I met James ( B Suarus Rex ) who had similar ideas.
The first Pearl sighting was along one of the rides, and provided a good omen for the day.
Next to arrive was Mark Cadey, by this time the sun was beginning to win over the cold breeze,
and the Pearls responded. The best sighting was of three males sparring in the air together.
We later discovered an interesting specimen, where the dark upper side markings had almost fused.
This Butterfly was afforded a lot of attention, and could well be an ab. We decided that the total
for the day was about six or seven, although we only explored a relatively small area.

Other species seen, female Orange Tip, Green veined Whites and several Peacocks.
Trevor.

Great shots Trevor , Pearl's already looks like I'll have to make the journey soon to Gait Barrow. Goldie

More great Pearls Trevor...and that is a lovely marked ab.

Cheers,

Neil.

Looks like a morning well spent Trevor

What a wonderful introduction to early season PBFs that ab. is, Trevor.

Nice find for what is barely late April!

Spring is well and truly underway with those PBF shots, Trevor. It's a nice ab. too, and in combination with the bluebells - stunning.

Dave

The extensive cloud cover this morning ensured that things would be slow going.
When the sun did appear several ' white ' Butterflies appeared. Best of these was
a fresh Green veined White, spoilt by a small tear in the left forewing.

A male Orange Tip became less active once the cloud reastablished, and later put down on Cow Parsley.

Not the best morning, but worth the trip.
Trevor.

PS. Many thanks for all your comments this week.

The weather was perfect early this morning, so much so, I decided to go out straight away.
The car was reading 11c, there was no chilly breeze and not a cloud in the sky.
Everything was perfect for a visit to find some Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. I arrived on site
just before 8 am, and immediately saw Pearl fly up in front of me. They were quite lively
even at that hour, but made frequent stops to bask. The Pearl hunt was interrupted several
times by a couple of Green Hairstreaks, which insisted on posing in a photogenic manner on Bluebells.
Hard to resist, and very welcome.
Among the dozen or so Pearls seen was my first female of the season, found warming up on a Bluebell.
When she later flew onto the ground several males approached her but she was not receptive
and each one quickly took the hint. ( already mated perhaps ).
Gary Norman paid a visit and bought with him a bank of cloud, which spelt the end of proceedings.
He did however earn 10 points for spotting a Pearl resting in a tree, awaiting the return of the sun,
which was not going to happen any time soon.

All images ( except the Pearl in the tree ) were taken between 8 and 9 am.

Trevor.

Simply lovely viewing Trevor, Goldie

Love that roosting one, those pearls positively glow! Hope they can find somewhere sheltered to get through the coming arctic blast

Early starts can be useful for photographing butterflies....and one tends to have the place all to oneself as well; an additional bonus!

Beautiful roosting Pearl!

Great stuff Trevor, great shots You inspired me so I too a gamble and visited Bentley Wood today and got my first Pearl

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Many thanks folks for all your encouragement. That really was a special morning yesterday.
Today I have returned to Wiltshire. Later this afternoon I popped along to Wurzel's hill.
But it was a case of no sun, no Butterflies ,until I had almost reached the car to return home.
By chance I noticed a female Orange Tip resting on Cow Parsley. Better still, right by the main road
I found a mating pair of Green Veined Whites, a species I have not had much luck with so far this season.

Trevor.

That's a lovely Green-veined White shot Trevor I'm surprised there wasn't much about as reports from that site have been pretty good recently - only a few more weeks and then it will really be pumping at The Hill

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That’s a beautiful image of the female GVW on the white flower, Trevor. The mating pair is pretty good too. I’ve still only seen low numbers of this species so far in 2017. Hopefully, that will change soon.

Lovely shot's again Trevor, great GVW's, Goldie