I decided to make the most of the weather and drove up to Barbary Castle in the hope of increasing my tally of chalkhill blue sightings, having only seen one so far at Hackpen Hill. Initially it was rather cloudy and breezy, and it was a while before I saw any butterflies at all. Then the sun came out and so did a few butterflies. After a while, I saw the flutter of blue wings, and then another, and another, and eventually one rested on a flower and I could identify that it was a chalkhill blue. Because of the wind it was quite difficult to get a good photo of it. Although the sun was in and out of the clouds, I did manage to spot a number of different species including, one painted lady, one red admiral, and one peacock, also several meadow browns, gatekeepers, small skippers, green veined white, small white, marbled white and about 8 chalkhill blues, male and female.
walk up to the castle, there were quite a few people about actually
the gully where I found most of the butterflies
chalkhill blue (F)
chalkhill blue from underneath
male chalkhill blue
marbled white
green veined white
meadow pipit
painted lady
peacock
whitethroat
what do you mean, difficult to get a good photo? !
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