Yesterday morning was spent at Llyden Downs where the forecast said it would be sunny with light winds. As I arrived about 10am it was raining quite hard and I sat in the car wondering what I was doing trying to photograph butterflies in this weather. Eventually the clouds started to break so I took the opportunity to go and look for some butterflies before they warmed up and this would allow me some photographic time. The sun soon started to burn through nicely and at first you could be fooled into thinking there were no butterflies around but as the heat picked up the bank came alive with Chalkhill Blues and at least 5 Silver spotted Skippers, one of the targets for the morning. They are wonderful to watch and often allow nice close views but at a seconds notice can suddenly get up and speed away. This small butterfly is nationally still quite scarce so we are very fortunate to have this species in our area. Hopefully the next few weeks will have a good number on the downs at Llyden and I'm sure I will return for more action. A number of pleasing images were taken throughout the morning, some of what are posted below. Hopefully tomorrow or over the weekend I will get round to doing a few Chalkhill Blue shots from the trip.
Silver spotted Skipper
nice moths
ReplyDeleteIf only they were moths Adam I would be very happy.
DeleteSome nice images from your trip Marc.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant photos Marc.
ReplyDeleteJust love the water droplet on the first shot Marc :-) I didn't realise how similar they are to the large Skipper when viewed from above, I suppose they are much smaller though ?
ReplyDeleteOnly a little smaller I would say but the habitat gives it away.
DeleteAnother excellent one for you Marc, brilliant butterfly and images....just brilliant.
ReplyDelete