Butterflies at Alners Gorse

On Tuesday I visited Alners Gorse with Dave L hoping to see Brown Hairstreak, a butterfly I've only seen twice before, one occasion being at Alners gorse several years ago when we had superb view of several individuals nectaring on thistles. We weren't so lucky this time as the warm dry weather meant that there was plenty of honeydew on the leaves and so they remained up in the trees for most of the time. Never the less I got some nice photos, just not point blank ones. We also saw a lovely Valesina form of Silver Washed Fritillary.

I thought I'd get the photos on here more or less straight away rather than add them to the immense backlog of photos I have waiting on the hard drive. I really must try and get on top of it but with the pleasant weather at the moment I'm too busy out seeing stuff. Perhaps this will be the start of more regular blogging from now on.... or perhaps not.

 The beautiful array of wildflowers at Alners Gorse including a new species for me in the form of 

Pepper Saxifrage

 

Pepper Saxifrage - Silaum silaus

Silver-washed Fritillary form Valesina - Argynnis paphia

Male Brown Hairstreak superbly camouflaged on Lime looking like just another dead bract. 

Female feeding on honeydew from surface of leaf.

 

And from an acorn...

 

 And a twig...

 Brown Hairstreak - Thecla betula

Brimstone - Gonepteryx rhamni 

Small Skipper - Thymelicus sylvestris