At the usual spot, I could see someone already looking, and on making enquiries, I discovered he'd already seen one of each of these species in the past 10 minutes although they had disappeared for the time being. He'd also seen Dingy skippers. The first butterfly I saw, though, was a male Orange tip, followed by a speckled wood. Then a couple of smaller brown butterfies appeared... a dingy skipper and a small heath ( both first of the year for me). We waited for a while and then saw two small heaths, which were then joined by another darker brown butterfly, which turned out to be.. a Duke of Burgundy. It settled briefly a couple of times, down among the vegetation before disappearing once more. Hopefully it would return, I thought. Whilst waiting, I spotted a green hairstreak, but it didn't stop for long.
After engaging in conversation for a while, my companion left, and I waitied around alone, in case I had any more sightings. Sure enough the Duke of Burgundy re-appeared, this time happy to stay in one spot for long enough to photograph before moving to different places in the vicinity.
I then decided to hunt for green hairstreaks, so walked towards an area of the common where there were more bushes; gorse, bramble and hawthorn, which I thought a more likely habitat. I was right, as I soon found a green hairstreak, although it had an obvious piece missing from the edge of one of its wings. I managed a few record photos, but then a few yards further on, I found a prisitine individual flying around and eventually it posed beautifully on a leaf for me.
Dingy skipper
Duke of Burgundy
green hairstreak
small heath
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