Summer Butterflies

This is the first of several posts that will look back at the butterflies that John and I have seen over the summer.


On 14th August we made a day trip to Fontmell Down Nature Reserve in Dorset to look for the Silver-spotted Skipper.

This butterfly is still quite rare in Britain with its habitat restricted to chalk downland. We spent several hours at the site and saw about a dozen of these beautiful skippers. They were very flighty and quite difficult to photograph with the best opportunities being when they were feeding on their favourite flowers, Dwarf Thistles.

The hillside was covered in flowers including Autumn Gentian (left) and Autumn Lady's Tresses (right).

                                   

John also took some video of the Silver-spotted Skipper and his film can be seen on his You Tube channel. (Double click the image to enlarge.)