It hasn't been a “Barbecue” summer, but by choosing my outings whenever the weather was forecast to be good for a couple of days, I have managed to take quite a few photographs of butterflies which were new to me, and better photos of some I had seen before.

 

Silver washed fratillary

Most of the Fritillaries, so named from their orange and brown spotted appearance, are a large woodland butterfly, food- plant –mostly violets. They are found in clearings and glades in woods and like to nectar on brambles and thistles. They are mostly in the Midlands and south of the country. Rare because woodlands have been cleared, or changed from deciduous woods to conifer..

 

Silver washed fritillary: the largest British fritillary, named from the colouring on the underside, lives for about 5 weeks, July and August. They can be found in glades in oak woods in sunshine and roost in the tree tops at night and dull weather. They lay their eggs in tree trunks near to violets.

 

Small Pearl-bordered fritillary

distinguished, by time and place, (as it flies a little later), from the similar Pearl bordered fritillary, (not yet photographed) The Small Pearl-bordered have more pronounced silver spots in addition to the ‘pearls' on the edge of the wing.

High brown fritillary and Dark green fritillary are extremely difficult to identify from the upper side, when they are seen together.

 

The High brown is identified by the silver spots inside the reddish brown markings on the underside.

The Dark green fritillary has silver spots and green markings on its underside

Other butterflies of the woodlands are the hairstreaks, so called because of the fine white lines on the underside.

 

With the exception of the green hairstreak they live in the canopy of trees.

 

 

The Purple hairstreak lives at the top of oak trees and  only occasionally descends to bask in the sun.

Females do this more often than the males. The amount of purple varies with the light. 

The Black hairstreak is a, rare, small brown butterfly

of the oak woods, but is named from the small black spots on the underside. of the wings.

They lay their eggs in sloe thickets and nectar on brambles and privet

where they rest with wings closed.

White letter hairstreak, a plain brown buttterfly, is identified by the white

W traced out on the underside of the wing.

It lives where elms and wych elm grow. Resting with closed wings to nectar on brambles, privet, and occasionally other flowers.

Chalk hill blue are found on chalky slopes where their food plants, vetches and trefoils are. Like many blues the male is brightly coloured, the female brown. The underside has spots, the pattern can vary.

Small blue is the smallest blue butterfly in Britain, usually found on chalkwhere kidney vetch grows.Both sexes are quite dark, the under side is like the holly blue with single spots.

Silver studded blue are found on heathland, where broom, gorse and heather flourish. The male is silvery blue, the female brown.

The underside  is spotted with, black,blue and orange markings. The blue spots giving the appearance of

'silver studding' hence the name.

This year I have been to Bedfordshire,  Northants, and the Lake District and twice to Oxfordshire and Berks in my quest for photos of British butterflies.

I am up to 50 out of 57. I still have to go to the Isle of Wight, Somerset, Essex and Worcs (all  pencilled in for next year).

Scotland,  Dorset and the high hills of the Lakes to come later. (perhaps)!