Heath Fritillary

It was half past nine and it had been a fantastic morning. Six orchids down including two life ticks and I was on a roll. The only problem was that I had not planned for that level of success and I was having to improvise on where to visit next. On top of that the clouds were starting to build and rain was threatened.

I decided to visit Blean Wood to look for the Heath Frittilary butterflies. A few years earlier this had been the site of one of my most memorable butterflying days. We had walked into a glade and finding one Heath Fritillary had rushed to get the cameras out before it disappeared. The sun then came out and a brown carpet of pristine Heath Fritillaries rose out of the grass surrounding us. Too many to count but certainly many hundreds.

Today the same glade was still delivering although, being at the start of the flight period, only half a dozen were showing. This has to be one of the easiest butterflies to photograph. They don't fly far or fast, they are not easily flushed, and they are very obliging in giving closed and open wing views. I had it in mind to visit a site near Eastbourne on the way home to photograph the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and that would be a challenge of another order.

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary

Female Brimstone on Common Cow Wheat

And a few other butterfly shots taken recently. Closed wing shot of a Duke of Burgundy, they usually bask with wings open; open wing shot of a Holly Blue, they usually bask with wings closed; and a Wall Brown, unusual in that I have seen so many of them this year.

Duke of Burgundy

Holly Blue

Wall

Still only a quarter past eleven, enough material gathered for three blogs, but the rain had now set in. I went home via Park Heath Corner hoping for a break in the clouds and a chance to photograph the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary but it was not to be. Still, it's always worth leaving something for another day.