I spent an hour in a nature reserve near Lambourn this morning looking for meadow butterflies on this area of chalk grassland. Lambourn is very much the home of racehorses and as well as seeing half a dozen riders, I saw signs for an Equine hospital, home for injured jockeys and some very posh stables!
It was forecast a hot day so I got there fairly early (9.30am) and already the reserve was alive with butterflies. I was hoping for chalk hill blues but saw no blues at all; however I was pleased to find a single Painted Lady, first for the year and unseen by me in 2020. I also found one small copper - another first for the year - but it flew off before I could obtain a record photo.
There were large numbers of marbled whites and meadow browns, as well as small heath, small and large skipper, one small tortoiseshell and a ringlet.
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