It was a sunny day yesterday and lovely to see butterflies again, above a Common blue on Mount Caburn, which I walked before heading off to Friston forest to see White helleborines.
A Small heath (?)
A Wall butterfly above.
A Marbled white butterfly, I thought. Evidently not, it seems and I am grateful for a correction by Neil Hulme who states "
Good to meet you yesterday, [27th June]
amongst the Tortoiseshells and Ladies. I’ve had a look at your excellent blog and particularly at the entry for your recent walk on Caburn. It looks as if Bevendean Down might again take the record for first Marbled White of the year, as your image is of something else ... equally interesting. This is the underside of the Mother Shipton, a day-flying moth found over unimproved grassland in Sussex. Named after the old hag, the pattern on the upper side of the forewings does seem to show the silhouette of a witch, and should not be looked at by sensitive children!"
Many thanks Neil for your correction. It was a great pleasure to meet you yesterday.
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www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk to keep in touch with butterfly conservation in Sussex.
Above and below is a moth, which looks like a Grass-veneer moth. There were lots of those.
While I ate my lunch on the hillside a Fritillary butterfly zoomed past -- too fast to identify further and flying away into the distance in seconds. Later in Friston forest were a few Speckled wood butterflies.
