More Butterflies

So, here we go again. This is Holt Heath, which looks like this in midsummer. As I think I have explained before, this is a bit of a revelation for me as all my previous - and fairly substantial - experiences of heathland has been in autumn, winter and spring. Heaths can be very bleak and desolate then, and nothing wrong with that, I happen to like bleak and desolate. However, seeing a heath in mid summer, bright with colour and positively humming with life, does rather justify all the winter's efforts.

Anyway, on the subject of 'positively humming with life', here are some of my butterfly and moth spots from the last few days. I am indebted to my old cycling buddy and moth expert Jason for a lot of the idents. He saved me a lot of flicking through butterfly books.

A Gatekeeper or Hedge Brown (Pyronia tithonus), which slots neatly into the 'small, brown' category of butterflies. Speaking of which...

A Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) on some cross leafed heather.

A peacock (Inarchis io), which is one of the 'classic' butterflies, by which I mean butterflies that I can recognise. Unlike the two above, which are small and fluttery  and have to be chased and then snuck up on, this one just sat on a bit of ragwort, wings spread and letting me snap away. Brazen hussy that it was.

This is a Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma), a visitor from the continent where it is widespread. Unusually for a moth, it's happy flying in daylight.

A Dusky Sallow (Eremobia ochroleuca). Also happily flying in daylight, which somewhat negates the point I made above. I never claimed to be an expert. I love the names, too. Speaking of which...

A Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus). Definitely a butterfly, despite looking like a moth. This butterfly is found all over Europe and Asia, as far east as Japan. Which is pretty cool.

For more info, go to http://butterfly-conservation.org/50/identify-a-butterfly.html or http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/thumbnails/, although the second one is slightly terrifying in it's overwhelming detail.

Anyway, here's the only other song I can think off with 'Butterfly' in the title.It's 'Buttefly' by Crazy Town (the band, not the Danish kid's tv show). It does tend to get stuck in your head at times like these. The tune is sampled from 'Pretty Little Ditty' by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn88p4vAwHk and is one of the best bass riffs ever.