It was indeed David, just a shame they didn't quite sit right to catch the sun but you can't have everything
21st August, Denbies & Bookham
Well that wasn’t very nice, a big windy storm thing arriving just in time for my weekend off! Thankfully today was significantly better than Saturday and since I have yet to find a second brood Adonis, I set off early to catch them (hopefully) waking up on Denbies. A fair bit of sun on the way promised much but a thick blanket of cloud arrived upon my arrival…
A couple of Brown Argus were active one of which made it into my first photograph of the day.
Meadow Browns were relatively plentiful, most of them looking very fresh. I'm convinced there are two distinct emergences of these, not double brooded but more something along the lines of what Speckled Woods do. Chalkhills were also about, all though looking rather faded and well past it. I seem to remember last year they outlived the Adonis second brood, doesn’t look like a repeat performance this year.
Next to be on the receiving end of my camera was a male Adonis. It was still too cloudy for basking but not for feeding.
Another lycid was next, a female Common Blue this time… still no basking though.
Small Heaths were also enjoying a third brood, lots of fresh individuals being disturbed by my footfall.
With thinning clouds and patches of blue sky my second Adonis did feel it was bright enough to open his wings and posed perfectly for me, perching on a sprig of Eyebright for some time
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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A few Silver-spotted Skippers were about, looking a bit worn like the Chalkhills.
Approaching lunchtime a few more Adonis began to appear, encouraged out by the larger gaps in the clouds, although not many by any stretch of the imagination. By the time I left around noon I had probably only seen seven or eight, all males
A very pretty Common Blue was the last butterfly to be captured for posterity before leaving for an afternoon at Bookham.
An hour later I found myself wandering around the open scrub at Bookham Commons under some decent blue sky. I found, unfortunately, no Brown Hairstreaks though (although they were there as Millerds diary proves!
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
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A fresh Small Tortoiseshell gave me the run-around and only allowed the one record shot
And moving into the woods I found a Silver-washed Fritillary who had certainly lived his life to the full. There was still life in him, a passing female grabbed his attention for a while although she was able to lose him with relative ease
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
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My White Admirals caterpillars this year have been vanishing at a rate of knots, with just one out of five still alive on my last visit. Today there were none. I searched around some other areas but all I found was one more abandoned platform. I think WA had a terrible year this year, they certainly seemed much less numerous than last year here and I heard similar comments when I visited Fermyn.
Returning to Brown Hairstreak territory for one last prowl before home, a few Common Blues were active and so were some Small Coppers, three in total although one escaped my camera.