RAVENSROOST

This afternoon was the first occasion for a while that the weather has been dry and calm enough to warrant a re- visit to Ravensroost Wood. Although cloudy, I had a sense that it was getting a bit brighter and therefore might encourage a few butterflies to fly. 

Along the main ride, the main butterflies were, as expected, meadow browns and ringlets. I made my way down to the pond at which point the clouds almost, but not quite allowed the sun to break through, but this was sufficient to cause several silver washed fritillaries to make an appearance, and I also had a fleeting glance of a white admiral which disappeared behind some vegetation. 

My current target butterflies for this wood are two of the hairstreaks; purple  and white letter. I studied the usual area for white letter  hairstreaks but could see none, neither were any purple hairstreaks evident. However, I did see a good variety of other butterflies, including, small white, green veined white, marbled white, peacock, comma, red admiral, small skipper ( I peered closely at some of these to see if I could spot an Essex skipper), gatekeeper, holly blue, large white, as well as the aforementioned ringlet and meadow brown, silver washed fritillary and white admiral.  

comma

ringlet

silver washed fritillary

possible essex skipper

                                                                      green veined white